The Trump administration announced on Thursday that it was reviving a proposal to prevent undocumented immigrants from receiving federal housing assistance, a policy that could displace tens of thousands of legal residents and citizens, many of them children, who live with unauthorized relatives in public housing.
The proposal comes as the Department of Housing and Urban Development has stepped up efforts to scrutinize public housing rolls for undocumented immigrants, telling public housing authorities across the country on Friday that they would face sanctions if they did not do more to verify the legal status of residents.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development had previously instructed landlords to follow existing rules that allow families of mixed immigration status to live in subsidized housing, so long as at least one household member is a legal resident. In those cases, the subsidies are prorated based on the number of eligible members of the family.
But Scott Turner, the former pro football player whom President Trump picked to lead HUD, said in a fiery statement peppered with references to “illegal aliens” and “fraudsters” that his department would now move forward with a “zero tolerance” policy aimed at ejecting all undocumented immigrants, who he said were “riding the coattails of American taxpayers.”
The move was a return to a policy, pushed by immigration hard-liners like Stephen Miller, that was first proposed in 2019, in Mr. Trump’s first term. Officials had said it was necessary to cut down on long waiting lists for public housing. The department’s statement gave similar reasoning on Thursday, writing that “HUD resources serve only a quarter of eligible households in need.” (The Trump administration issued plans in November to drastically slash support for long-term housing programs.)
The 2019 proposal faced stiff opposition from landlords and local officials, who said that it would displace some of their most reliable tenants and add major financial strains to an already cash-strapped system. Undocumented immigrants, they said, generally pay rent on time, in part out of fear of drawing attention and referrals to law enforcement.
According to a HUD analysis in 2019, more than 108,000 people receiving housing benefits were in a household with at least one undocumented immigrant. Because many of those immigrants have children who are U.S. citizens or legal residents, HUD estimated at the time that as many as 55,000 children who were in the country legally would have been displaced from public housing under the policy. There are more than 2.2 million residents in public housing nationwide.
The HUD statement on Thursday characterized the current rule allowing mixed-status families to live together with prorated benefits as a “roommate loophole.” The statement was headlined: “Illegals, Ineligibles, and Fraudsters: Pack Your Bags,” accompanied by emojis.
Chris Cameron is a Times reporter covering Washington, focusing on breaking news and the Trump administration.
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