My landlord asked about my immigration status. Can they do that?

Federal fair housing law protects everyone in the United States regardless of immigration status, and it prohibits discrimination based on national origin — which covers where you or your family are from, your accent, and your name.

So the answer depends on what is actually happening.

Where the line falls

Identity and ability to pay are legitimate. A landlord may ask for identification, proof of income, and references, and may run a credit check.

Applying it selectively is not. Requiring documents, deposits or a guarantor only from applicants who sound or look foreign is national origin discrimination, even where each requirement would be lawful applied to everyone.

That is the question to ask yourself: not "may they ask this?" but "would they have asked this of the applicant before me?"

Threats to report you

A landlord who threatens to call immigration authorities because you asked for repairs, complained about conditions, joined other tenants, or were late with rent is doing something separate and worse. It is retaliation, and in many places it is specifically prohibited by state law as well.

What to do

Write it down as it happens. The date, what was said, who heard it. Move the conversation to text or email where you can — "just to confirm what you said on the phone…" is a normal message to send and it creates a record that a verbal threat does not.

Do not move out to end it, if you can avoid it. Leaving usually forfeits the deposit and ends the tenancy that gives you standing.

File the complaint. Fair housing complaints are free, there is a federal route and usually a state one, and the federal fair housing links are on this site for every state. Legal aid organisations take housing cases and many have staff who speak your language.

Repairs, deposits, notice periods and eviction procedure are set by state and local law and vary enormously — those specifics belong to your state's tenant resources rather than to a page like this. What does not vary is that the protection applies to you.