re: Homeowner arrested after tense standoff with squatters

I’m so glad I work in Louisiana where it is easy to evict and easy to get squatters out.

It's pretty ridiculous to think that if you went home one day, found someone random in your house when you opened the door and shot them in fear, there's a legit chance you're the one in deep trouble

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If you take a two month trip to Europe someone can just claim the place and the courts will back them until evicted?

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I think it only applies if the owner isn't actively living there, but it's still bullshite.

It's like the government's saying "You only need one house. Share the wealth."

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you opened the door and shot them in fear, there's a legit chance you're the one in deep trouble

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Still would in a heartbeat.

I'll take my chances with a jury of 12 in rural southern Oklahoma.

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I will NEVER understand the concept of "squatter's rights".

Why do these blue states allow this?

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Its concept is rooted in a different era. It should not exist in today's modern world. One hundred fifty years ago, when the country wasn't as settled, it made sense for someone to take over abandoned land. It took a lot of work to track down people. Spend years trying to track down next of kin or let some guy farm abandoned land?

Now, states have squatters rights laws to protect tenants and prevent vigilante justice, but people take advantage of the situation. You also have homeless advocacy groups that will go to court for this scum.

What the law envisions is you and I come to a verbal agreement to live in my house for some time; we have a disagreement, and I show up at your door at 4 in the morning, throw all your shite in the street, and lock you out. The squatter's rights law is supposed to protect you in that situation and requires me to go through a legal process of having you removed from the home.

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On what basis did this madness get started even?

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Squatting in the United States

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Historically, squatting occurred in the United States during the California Gold Rush and when colonial European settlers established land rights. There was squatting during the Great Depression in Hoovervilles and also during World War II. Shanty towns returned to the US after the Great Recession (2007–2009) and in the 2010s, there were increasing numbers of people occupying foreclosed homes using fraudulent documents. In some cases, a squatter may be able to obtain ownership of property through adverse possession.

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With victory in the American Revolution the new government considered evicting the squatters from areas that were now federally owned public lands.[3] In 1785, soldiers under General Josiah Harmar were sent into the Ohio country to destroy the crops and burn down the homes of any squatters they found living there. But overall the federal policy was to move Indians to western lands (such as the Indian Territory in modern Oklahoma) and have a very large numbers of farmers replace a small number of hunters. Congress repeatedly debated how to legalize settlements. On the one hand Whigs like Henry Clay wanted the government to get maximum revenue, and also wanted stable middle-class law-abiding settlements of the sort that supported towns (and bankers). Jacksonian Democrats like Thomas Hart Benton wanted the support of poor farmers, who reproduced rapidly, had little cash, and were eager to acquire cheap land in the West. Democrats did not want a big government and keeping revenues low helped that cause. Democrats avoided words like "squatter" and regarded "actual settlers" as those who gained title to land, settled on it, and then improved upon it by building a house, clearing the ground, and planting crops.

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Ultimately, as they shed the image of being outside the law and fashioned themselves into pioneers, squatters were increasingly able to purchase the lands on which they had settled for the minimum price thanks to various preemption acts and laws passed throughout the 1810s-1840s. In Washington, Jacksonian Democrats favored squatter rights and banker-oriented Whigs were opposed; the Democrats prevailed.[4][5][6][7]

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Tony Soprano’s solution to this works.


Hire a bunch of gangbangers to do a home invasion.

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Something similar happened in Baton Rouge and the guy had to move mountains to finally resolve the issue he had.

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Must be a city issue because LA is pretty easy to handle this. Cops will remove them the same day. I have had several removed in my line of work. Also, if the cops won't do it that day, you can have them out within a few weeks going the legal route and getting an eviction.

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There’s going to be a lot more of these stories once the illegal aliens realize they can just steal someone’s property after being kicked out of their shelters

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And they will be ably assisted by the "Immigrant Rights" activists and affiliated lawyers.

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Someone please explain to me (a rational explanation) how this is a thing. How is it not trespassing? Help me understand so I won’t think I’m losing my mind.

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It goes back to medieval times and common law theories.

The prevailing notion was that land was sacred and essential to the betterment of mankind and to "waste" or "neglect" it was a sin and a detriment to the community at large.

So if some Parisian nobleman owns rightful title to a parcel of land out in the French countryside and they do nothing with it (they often don't even know they own it) then a peasant could move in grow a farm, build a stone house or grain mill, make improvements, etc. and could establish tenant rights or even ownership over an extended period of time because they were doing something useful with the land rather than neglecting it.

It also pertains to basic disputes of tenancy and inheritance.
 
Obviously that has been basterdized in modern times and given rise to scams. These assholes aren't growing crops and building barns over the course of a decade. They are watching the obituaries and swooping in like vultures in urban environments.