Only in the modern Democrat-run dystopia of Chicago can a law-abiding homeowner be forced to negotiate with criminals in his own house — and pay them thousands just to leave.
That’s exactly what happened to Marco Velazquez, a Chicago homeowner who became the latest victim of Illinois’s soft-on-crime, anti-property-owner policies when his South Side home was brazenly taken over by squatters. Instead of receiving support from the authorities, Velazquez found himself in a legal limbo where criminals had more rights than the man who actually owns the deed.
Velazquez, preparing to sell the home, was blindsided when his realtor informed him that two strangers — Shermaine C. Powell and Codarro T. Dorsey — had moved into his property and were refusing to leave. In a scene that sounds more like satire than real life, the couple claimed they were the rightful owners and even presented a shady-looking mortgage document to police.
Law enforcement, likely rolling their eyes behind the scenes, found no trace of the mortgage in official records. But thanks to Illinois’ broken squatter-friendly laws, police were powerless to act. Unless Velazquez was willing to spend months in civil court, the squatters could stay — no matter how fraudulent their claims.
Just weeks earlier, Powell had been arrested for squatting in another South Side home. She’s currently facing charges for burglary, forgery, obstructing identification, and criminal trespassing. But that didn’t stop her from occupying yet another home and demanding to be treated as if she had any legal standing.
Faced with no help from the city or state, Velazquez made a bold move: he moved in with the squatters.
With air mattresses and reinforcements, Velazquez, his wife, and friends camped out in their own living room while the intruders stayed comfortably in a bedroom. “We stayed a whole night with them,” Velazquez said. “We were watching the door.”
But the squatters weren’t leaving. Instead, they made an extortion-level demand: \$8,000 to vacate the home they had illegally occupied.
Desperate to move forward with the sale and avoid a year-long court battle, Velazquez reluctantly agreed to pay them $4,300 just to reclaim what was already rightfully his. He called it a “cash-for-keys” agreement — but it’s extortion by any other name.
“We didn’t want to give them money,” Velazquez admitted. “But we heard really bad stories about squatters taking over properties for six, eight, 10 months, even a year.”
Meanwhile, Powell continues to proclaim her innocence with a straight face, telling media she is “innocent until proven guilty.”
The tragedy here is not just Velazquez’s ordeal — it’s that these types of cases are becoming routine in Democrat-controlled cities where criminals are coddled, and property rights are trampled.
Thankfully, some lawmakers are waking up. A new bipartisan bill, SB1563, would allow for the immediate removal of squatters once homeowners prove ownership. The bill, nicknamed the “Squatter’s Bill,” is long overdue.
Until then, people like Velazquez are stuck paying off trespassers just to live in their own homes — all while leftist politicians twiddle their thumbs.
Chicago doesn’t have a housing crisis. It has a leadership crisis. When squatters have more rights than homeowners, the system is broken beyond repair.
