After a lease disagreement, Homeland Security stopped paying rent and is now $$115,425.51 in arrears. Citing that, County Executive Josh Siegel is giving them the boot from their Allentown office space.
Source: City & State
Lehigh County Executive Josh Siegel announced that his administration will be terminating a lease agreement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security after a county-led inquiry found that an arm of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement owes the county more than $115,000 in unpaid rent after occupying county-owned office space for approximately 38 months.
“I am immediately terminating our lease agreement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. They should consider themselves evicted,” Siegel said Tuesday in a statement. “The department’s failure to pay rent, combined with DHS’s national reputation for recklessness, chaos, and public disorder, warrants ending any relationship with the County. We will not accept their blood money.”
Siegel, who took office earlier this month, said the county will take “all necessary steps to enforce the lease termination and protect the interests of Lehigh County residents.”
Siegel’s announcement came after Lehigh County Controller Mark Pinsley sent a letter to Siegel and the county’s board of commissioners on Tuesday revealing that the Department of Homeland Security reportedly owes the county $115,425.51 in uncollected revenue.
So how does one go from simply not paying rent for nearly three years?
After that, a standard lease agreement began on Oct. 1, 2023 and runs through Sept. 30, 2026; Pinsley noted that because both parties never agreed to the terms of that subsequent lease agreement, the county has yet to receive payment from HSI, a law enforcement arm within ICE.
Thugs, and they don't pay their rent.
