When Rocio Rebollar Gomez came to San Diego from Mexico in 1988, she marveled at how beautiful the houses were.
“It was one of my dreams,” she said in Spanish. “I said to myself, ‘One day, I will buy a house here.'”
Her dream was complicated by the fact that she was undocumented. But years later, after a circuitous route through the immigration system left her with a work permit and social security number but no longterm status, she was able to buy her first home in 2003. Her family had worked together to save every possible dollar toward making a downpayment. After they had some money left over from the purchase, she bought them all new furniture for the move.
“Having your own house in the United States, it’s the best that you can do for yourself, for your children and for your family,” she said.
Reporting on migration and the border often stops at the point of people entering the United States, but what happens after is just as important a part of the story. Homeownership in undocumented communities rarely gets discussed. That changed recently as politicians nationwide debated a California bill that would’ve explicitly allowed undocumented immigrants to qualify for a program that offers state-backed mortgages to certain first-time homebuyers.
Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed the bill last week citing budget concerns.
Owning a home in the United States doesn’t require any specific immigration status, but undocumented immigrants often face roadblocks to getting approved for mortgages, according to research from the Joint Center of Housing Studies at Harvard University.
“I think it’s nearly impossible for undocumented individuals to meet all the eligibility criteria,” said Arcela Nuñez-Alvarez, a North County-based immigrant rights advocate with Universidad Popular. She could only think of two people that she knows in the community who are undocumented and own homes. Both bought their homes decades ago, she said.
Nationwide, about 28 percent of undocumented immigrants live in owned homes instead of rented ones, according to Migration Policy Institute. The organization estimates that in San Diego County about 20 percent live in owned homes. However, it’s not clear if the undocumented person is the homeowner in those situations or if another family member owns the home.
Almost 70 percent of undocumented immigrants live in mixed-status households, meaning that the family members have different immigration statuses, according to Pew Research Center. It’s possible that the homeowner in many of these cases is not an undocumented person.
In addition to figuring out the purchase either by saving up the cash or finding a bank willing to lend them money, undocumented immigrants also have other complications to consider.
They could have to decide what will happen to their house if they are deported. That happened to Rebollar Gomez in early 2020. (I first wrote about her as her son, a U.S. Army officer at the time, came home to say goodbye before her deportation.)
Rebollar Gomez said she thinks many people in her situation have U.S. citizen children, like she does. Her children were able to help her keep the house while she navigated a new life in Tijuana. The worst-case scenario, she said, would have been having to sell the house.
She thinks concerns about potential deportation shouldn’t stop people from buying homes if they can afford them.
“If something happens to me, the money doesn’t get lost. That’s the only thing that is for sure,” she said. “It’s not like paying rent, and in the end, you have nothing.”
She was eventually allowed back into the U.S. and returned to her beloved home.
According to Nuñez-Alvarez, many undocumented immigrants also fear that buying a home or doing other activities that involve registering themselves within government systems could make them a target for immigration enforcement.
Ian Seruelo, chair of the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium and immigration attorney, said he’s also seen that fear in the community.
“That’s always an issue for an undocumented person,” he said. “They would rather have their home address or residential address unknown.”
In 2013, California passed a law known as AB 60 that allows undocumented immigrants to get driver’s licenses. Under the Trump administration, attorneys noticed that officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement were frequently using the licenses to track people down.
Ginger Jacobs, a San Diego immigration attorney, said that happened to several of her clients. She said that the more recent bill that would’ve helped people buy homes would not have caused the same issue because it wouldn’t have created a database of undocumented immigrants the way that the AB 60 licenses did.
“I think what made AB 60 different is that it’s exclusively for undocumented people,” Jacobs said. “In the wrong hands, it puts a red target on their backs.”
She said she has had clients become homeowners over the course of her time working with them.
Serulo said that he would counsel clients who have not yet had any contact with the immigration system not to buy homes. But, he said, if they already have a pending application or other proceeding, there’s no additional risk in having their names registered as the owners.
In Other News
- Documenting Tijuana’s street art: Photojournalist David Maung has been cataloging murals across Tijuana to display in an interactive website and map in a project called “Painting Tijuana.” He will be presenting the project as part of San Diego Design Week and World Design Capital San Diego Tijuana 2024 on Sunday, Sept. 22 at 10 a.m. at La Atalaya Foundation Theater in the Mingei Museum at Balboa Park.
- Corruption at the port of entry: Two Customs and Border Protection officers have been accused of working with a Mexican drug cartel to allow vehicles loaded with drugs to pass through their lanes unscreened at ports of entry on the U.S.-Mexico border in California. According to Alex Riggins of The San Diego Union-Tribune, officials later seized more than 1,150 pounds of drugs that the two officers are believed to have allowed into the country.
- Political photo ops at the border: The California border is once again serving as a backdrop for campaigning this election season. Several prominent Republicans recently visited San Diego County to push their views of border policy. Sen. JD Vance, the party’s vice presidential nominee, visited the San Diego area for a long weekend that included a tour of the border near San Ysidro, and Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee held a field hearing in Santee, Alexandra Mendoza reported for The San Diego Union-Tribune.
- Toxic gases: Researchers from San Diego State University and University of California San Diego found elevated levels of toxic gases, hydrogen sulfide and hydrogen cyanide, related to the ongoing sewage problem in the Tijuana River Valley. The county has since tried to reassure residents that they are safe while members of congress are calling for a declaration of a state of emergency, Gustavo Solis reported for KPBS.
Thank you for reading. I’m open for tips, suggestions and feedback on Instagram @katemorrisseyjournalist and on X/Twitter @bgirledukate.
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