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'Karen' harassed landscaper, demanded to see his immigration papers—now people are trying to get her evicted
In the video, he begs the unmasked woman to leave him alone.
Rachel Kiley
Published Jul 18, 2020 Updated Aug 11, 2020, 12:29 pm CDT
A California woman may soon find herself without an apartment after being caught on video harassing a landscaper for his immigration papers.
Juan Andrade was just doing the same job he's done for 10 years—mowing the lawn at Parkview Villas apartment complex in Rancho Mirage—when one of the tenants came out and got in his face, demanding he present his immigration papers to her.
"Like any other complex I was just doing the work for all of them, mowing the lawn," he told NBC Palm Springs. "I passed by her apartment and when I turned around to do the second round that's when I saw her standing."
According to TMZ, Andrade says this same woman has harassed him before, and when she started up this time, he made sure to get it on video.
"I'm doing my work, can you move? Can you move out of my work area?" he asks, after the woman continuously circles and blocks him despite him actively mowing at the time. "You're too close to me right now. And you're not wearing a mask, can you step away?"
Like the most predictable of Karens, rather than comply, the woman hits back with: "Can you show me your papers?"
Andrade asks her if she's immigration, but she just repeats her question.
https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/1284256201237307394
Anna Marie Driscoll
Someone thought they recognized the woman, and internet sleuths did further digging before identifying her as Anna Marie Driscoll, a resident of the affordable housing senior living community where Andrade was working.
The Riverside County Housing Authority was notified and is currently launching an investigation into the incident.
While Housing Manager Marcus Aleman did not confirm the woman's identity, he did confirm that the incident took place at Parkview Villas, where Driscoll lives, and said that the landscaping company contacted them directly to provide the video.
"The Rancho Mirage Housing Authority has a zero-tolerance policy for this type of behavior and the harassment of anyone, including other tenants, visitors, guests and contracted vendors conducting work at its affordable senior housing properties," he said, also referring to the incident as "very disturbing."
THEY JUST RESPONDED: Here's the housing authorities official response. Keep emailing to make sure they actually take action! They usually always give us bullshit excuses: pic.twitter.com/IpLcTZpabM
— me (@queenyury) July 17, 2020
Driscoll's presumed workplace, Trinity Gardens on Portola, has also been hearing about the video. The business is getting review-bombed with one-star reviews on Google, though a screenshot of her now-deleted LinkedIn page suggests she may have stopped working there after a mere eight months in 2013, and somebody else claims to have called them and been told they have never heard of her.
Frustration over the blatant racism and xenophobia on display in the video have folks most interested in getting Driscoll removed from affordable housing—which, as several pointed out, is subsidized by tax dollars.
"We don't need people like that living here," said Evelyn DeMaria, who lives near the apartment complex.
While the investigation is underway, Andrade plans to stay away from the Parkview Villas.
"Based on what I have seen from her, I think she thinks she didn't do anything wrong," he said. "She believes she's in the right, so I don't think she'll ever apologize."
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Rachel Kiley is a writer who sometimes writes things and sometimes is based in L.A., but is definitely always on Twitter @rachelkiley.