A Maryland lawmaker has introduced a bill named for President Trump’s son-in-law that is intended to stop judges from ordering the arrest of tenants who owe their landlords up to $5,000 in unpaid rent.

Del. Bilal Ali, D-Baltimore City, the bill’s sponsor, called the measure the Jared Kushner Act, because Kushner’s apartment management company has aggressively used the controversial debt-collection tactic.

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump listen to the State of the Union speech at the Capitol on Tuesday. Washington Post photo by Jabin Botsford

A Baltimore Sun investigation last year found that corporate entities affiliated with Kushner Cos.’ 17 apartment complexes in Maryland sought the civil arrest of 105 former tenants – the most of any Maryland company between 2013 and 2017. All had allegedly failed to appear in court to respond to charges of unpaid rent. “It’s like being jailed because you’re poor,” Ali said.

Under the bill, civil arrests for unpaid rent, known as body attachments, would be prohibited if the amount of debt is $5,000 or less.

Ali said he decided to name the bill after Kushner – a senior adviser at the White House – because “he has reaped a lot of wealth off of the backs of poor people. . . . He owns these properties and has to take ownership of that. . . . He just happens to be No. 45’s son-in-law.”

Christine Taylor, a spokeswoman for Kushner Companies, said the bill is “politically motivated.” Taylor said in a statement that the firm’s attorneys in Maryland have handled “these matters consistent with other attorneys in similar situations …. A body attachment is issued by a court for the failure to abide by two court orders, and is not in any way related to the ability or failure of a debtor to pay a debt.”

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