The crime of squatting seems to be growing quickly around the nation as criminals realize that many jurisdictions make it very hard for landowners to eject them from a property. But one woman defending the crime got an earful on “Dr. Phil” as the host and his guests blasted her for her claims.
Phil McGraw recently hosted an episode of his talk show centered around the topic of squatters — people who illegally enter and begin living in a property they neither own nor pay rent to occupy. The landowners on the show told the audience about the legal loopholes these criminals are using to steal people’s rightful property.
“Across the country, criminals are staking claim to the homes of hard-working Americans.” – @drphil
Dr. Phil speaks with homeowners who’ve suffered at the hands of squatters occupying their properties.
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But one of the real estate agents whom McGraw invited onto the show defended the squatters and insisted they were reacting in opposition to “colonization.”
If you are unaware, “colonization” is a left-wing buzzword meaning white people stealing lands from indigenous people.
During the April 18 episode of “Dr. Phil Primetime,” the real estate agent, identified only as Kristine, said she “doesn’t think adverse possession is immoral,” according to Fox News.
Instead, she said, “people with no housing dying from the elements is immoral.”
You can already tell she was playing games with language by calling it “adverse possession” instead of squatting. Still, that phrase has a legal definition. The Legal Information Institute defines “adverse possession” as when a “person in possession of land owned by someone else may acquire valid title to it, so long as certain requirements are met, and the adverse possessor is in possession for a sufficient period of time.”
Is squatting ever justified?
This leftist insisted that squatting is a legitimate practice because the U.S. government stole all of its land from Native Americans through adverse possession.
“That’s exactly how the U.S. government is designed, that’s how everyone here has their land. They took it through adverse possession,” she said, according to Fox News. “So that’s how the law is designed.”
This, of course, is nonsense. Whatever you believe of what happened to the Native Americans, “adverse possession” is certainly not “how everyone here has their land.”
Most of us either bought our home or rented it. No one who wishes to lead a moral life is stealing a home through “adverse possession.”
Why does our government reward the bad behavior of squatters?
“The system is broken, we’re rewarding bad behavior” – @Drphil
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Kristine also said abandoned building projects should be given to the homeless, no matter who owns them.
In fact, she admitted that she is working with a squatter who is trying to steal 300 to 500 acres from its rightful owner.
“It’s something that’s so large that you wouldn’t even notice what two acres is, compared to how many acres are on there,” the real estate agent said, according to Fox News. “Adverse possession is a law that’s left over from both Spanish and English colonization, it is how they took the land from the native people, and it’s a process we can use to take that land back.”
Who is this “we,” anyway? But she went on to insist that if someone owned 1,000 acres of land, he wouldn’t miss a few acres if someone squatted on the property and stole it.
“Can you tell me, if you’re looking at 1,000 acres, could you tell me what five acres was?” Kristine said.
Tony, one of the landowners on the panel, though, shot back by saying, “We’re not in 1776, we’re in 2024.”
But she persisted, arguing that “the rich” and corporations are evil for owning things and that they are a legitimate target of squatters.
“Do you think that a corporation that makes over a billion dollars a year is injured by someone taking five acres of land?” Kristine asked.
Another of the landowners, Patty, made the perfect point to her absurd arguments and asked if she was using her car 24 hours a day.
“Playing out your scenario, then theoretically anyone on the street should be able to boost your car and drive it, because that car is just sitting around unused,” Patti said as McGraw’s audience applauded.
“I don’t have a billion-dollar net worth,” Kristine responded — as if wealth is a legitimate reason to negate someone’s rights.
Still, she did try to make a distinction between destructive squatters trying to steal a suburban house from a landlord and the act of “adverse possession.” Kristine said she opposed the theft of homes from landlords by criminal squatters and she only wanted to target corporations and the rich.
But is that really any better?
This woman did not gain any converts on McGraw’s show. As well she shouldn’t.
Squatting hurts everyone. It drives down property values and undermines all of our rights. It is a destructive, immoral, act of thievery that violates one of America’s founding principles, that of being safe and secure in your home and property.
