Four Latino families filed papers to sue their Virginia landlord Monday after he threatened eviction due to illegal family members living on the premises.

The pernicious legal doctrine of “disparate impact” threatens to claim another commonsense and useful practice. Steve Birr of the Daily Caller News Foundation reports:

The civil rights lawsuit filed by families living in Waples Mobile Home Park in Fairfax County, Va., claims it is discriminatory to require a social security number for residency. The landlords at the mobile home park are requiring residents to provide either a social security card, passport or valid visa with documentation to renew their leases, reports The Washington Post.

Now, keep in mind that people illegally in the United States could be deported any time, and landlords would be left with a vacant property, unprotected by the legal niceties of a lease. And renting to someone who flouts the law might not be the wisest choice.

On its face, the requirement makes perfect sense. And it is applied not just to one group; it applies to anyone of any ethnicity. But because members of one demographic category (an artificial one, at that: “Hispanic” includes Caucasians from Spain, Mexicans of Aztec ancestry, and Argentines – all of whom have little in common with one another other than the Spanish language), it can be twisted by the courts into a “discriminatory” practice.

Unfortunately, I would not bet against the plaintiffs in this case.

Hat tip: Clarice Feldman