{"id":1627221,"date":"2025-09-29T22:46:56","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T02:46:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/?p=1627221"},"modified":"2025-09-29T22:47:02","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T02:47:02","slug":"cant-pay-rent-after-ice-arrest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/news\/help-me-howard\/cant-pay-rent-after-ice-arrest\/","title":{"rendered":"Can’t pay rent after ICE arrest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A South Florida woman’s husband was picked up by United States <\/strong>Immigration and Customs Enforcement and is being deported. Now, like so many others, she can’t afford the rent. Can she break the lease or perhaps get a lower monthly payment? It’s why she called Help Me Howard with Patrick Fraser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She asked us not to identify her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patrick Fraser: “You did nothing wrong.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lolita: “I’m sorry, but it’s just very embarrassing to me.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lolita, as we will call her, is facing a major change in her life, after ICE arrested her husband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lolita: “He was almost crying because, you know, he had a life. Not only him, thousands of people that have taken, they have a life.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the man who left Cuba 20 years ago to gain freedom is locked up, first at “Alligator Alcatraz” and now at a prison in Texas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lolita: “He didn’t want to tell me, but he had to sleep on the floor for 20 days or so.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her husband didn’t follow U.S. immigration laws. Lolita is an American citizen but doesn’t believe his punishment is right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lolita: “If they’re doing the right thing, if they’re working, I mean, why? It’s not fair, it’s not just.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But its legal, and the financial effects are now hitting now Lolita.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lolita: “Like I have that credit card problem. I’m not able to make the payments.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her husband was the breadwinner. Lolita only has a small Social Security check, and can’t afford the rent on their apartment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lolita: “I’m a nervous wreck.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They lived in federal subsidized housing, where rent is based on income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lolita went to the manager to explain her husband and his paycheck were gone forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lolita: “He has to come here and sign these papers so we can finish getting him off the lease.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, he can’t come in to sign anything since he is in a prison in Texas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lolita: “I just want them to do the right thing, you know, just lower the rent.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while she waits for a manager to determine her fate, she talks to other people like her, who lost a family member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lolita: “She talked to me for an hour and she’s devastated. She has a year old, seven year old.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can’t see her face, but she has no idea how she will survive, without her husband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lolita: “I don’t know, I do not know at all.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lolita will deal with the future tomorrow. The present is today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if you are in a lease, can you break it or get the rent lowered in a situation like this? Howard?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Howard: “In almost all cases you cannot break a lease or have your rent lowered because of a family member being arrested by ICE. However, in some situations where the government subsidizes your rent, there is a clause in the lease that allows a reduction in rent if one of the income producers loses their job, dies or gets arrested and that should be done for Lolita.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I contacted the property manager. She didn’t return my calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Lolita produced this document plus a letter showing her husband was in ICE custody and would not be returning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That did it. Lolita then got a new lease, with the rent lowered to a price she can afford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lolita: “Yes, they did. Yes, they did.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we met with Lolita, she made coffee for us, because something her husband had said in their last conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lolita: “I miss my coffee, my cafe con leche<\/em>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lolita says she will get by, but she worries more about other families who had their breadwinner taken away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lolita: “And you see a lot of people that have small children, which must be much, much worse.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s a strange, difficult time for people like Lolita. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the irony, after deporting her husband, the U.S. Government will now have to pay more to help her with her rent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will she instead follow her husband when he is deported, she says she doesn’t know because of her bad health. Clearly, she’s overwhelmed right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A problem depressed you? Need to be lifted up? Send it to us to improve your spirits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this Help Me Howard, I’m Patrick Fraser 7News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CONTACT HELP ME HOWARD:<\/strong>
Email: helpmehoward@wsvn.com<\/a>
Reporter: Patrick Fraser at pfraser@wsvn.com<\/a>
Miami-Dade: 305-953-WSVN
Broward: 954-761-WSVN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A South Florida woman’s husband was picked up by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement and is being deported. Now, like so many others, sheRead More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":188962057,"featured_media":1627422,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-09-30T02:47:01Z","apple_news_api_id":"b7e1e829-c9d0-4c33-a44c-0dbcf846689f","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-09-30T02:47:02Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/At-HoKcnQTDOkTA28-EZonw","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_speedyseo_primary_category":"","_sunbeam_story_id":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1400],"tags":[2185,1415],"coauthors":[1516],"class_list":["post-1627221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-help-me-howard","tag-hmh","tag-video","sunbeam-copyright-default","sunbeam-location-wsvn"],"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/09\/09292025-ICE-ARREST.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1627221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/188962057"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1627221"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1627221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1627431,"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1627221\/revisions\/1627431"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1627422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1627221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1627221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1627221"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1627221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}