An Illinois circuit court judge awarded more than $80,000 in a case brought by a Chicago couple who sued their landlords under the state’s Immigrant Tenant Protection Act (ITPA). The case, filed by MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) is the first to reach a judgment under the 2019 law, attorneys said. MALDEF filed the suit in 2022 on behalf of a tenant family whose landlord threatened to call U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during a rent dispute, solely based on the parents’ perceived immigration status. The suit was the second brought by MALDEF under ITPA, which bans landlords from discriminating against or harassing a tenant based on the tenant’s actual or perceived immigration status. On February 19, 2025, Circuit Court Judge Catherine A. Schneider ordered landlord Marco Antonio Contreras to pay more than $80,000 in damages as well as attorneys’ fees and costs for violating the ITPA. The judge also awarded a smaller sum in compensation for denying the tenants access to their belongings. According to the lawsuit, the tenant family rented a basement apartment from Marco Antonio Contreras and his wife beginning in 2017. On June 30, 2020, the landlords went to the family’s apartment and demanded payment of the July rent.  During the discussion, Contreras threatened to report the couple to federal immigration officials, in violation of the law. Illinois was the second state in the U.S. to enact legislation protecting immigrant tenants’ rights.