Last week, Townhall reported how an illegal alien TikTok influencer posted a video urging illegals to “invade” homes in the United States and invoke squatter’s rights to stay there.
In the video, influencer Leonel Moreno said, “If a house is not inhabited, we can seize it,” and boasted that he has “African friends” who’ve “already taken about seven homes.” Moreno said he thinks that invading homes will be his “next business.”
Holy smokes. Tiktoker is advising illegals on how to take over Americans’ homes via progressive squatters’ rights laws. This tiktoker boasts that his friends already took over 7 homes. Unreal. pic.twitter.com/y03Cag77xA
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 20, 2024
Predictably, the video went viral, and many users began notifying federal authorities of it.
On Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a law removing squatters’ rights in the state.
Going forward, the penalties for squatting will be increased and property owners will be able to remove squatters from their properties in a faster and easier manner.
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“We even have illegal aliens taking to social media instructing other foreigners how to come into this country and commandeer property. They have gotten involved in this,” DeSantis said in remarks on Wednesday. “What passes muster in New York and California does not pass muster here. You are not going to be able to commandeer somebody’s private property and expect to get away with it. We are, in the state of Florida, ending squatters’ scam once and for all.”
Governor Ron DeSantis Signs Legislation to End the Squatters Scam & Protect Homeowners https://t.co/MjqOKiAHPZ
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) March 27, 2024
“We have not had the same type of issues here as you've seen in California or New York,” DeSantis said. “What the squatters know, is that, even when they’re in the wrong, it’s a massive process many times before they can be evicted…we don’t want the law to have the thumb on the scale in favor of people that are violating the law.”
In an interview with NewsNation, one Florida resident, Patti Peeples, said that she bought a home and refurbished it to put it on the market for rent. Peeples later found two women living in the home claiming that they had a lease. Under Florida law, the two squatters were allowed to stay at her property for at least 20 days until a judge declared them to be in default.
“The first emotion was just absolute disbelief that a squatter could break into my house, and they weren’t arrested on the spot for breaking and entering. All the squatter had to do was to pull up a false document, a lease that they downloaded off the internet. And that automatically affords them protection under the eyes of the law,” Peeples said.
Peeples told the outlet that she sued to get the two women out of her home. Weeks later, a sheriff removed the women and their possessions.
Afterwards, Peeples discovered $40,000 worth of damage in the home.
Peeples story was one of many that shaped the legislation signed into law this week.
