Jasper Ward
WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (Reuters) – The Trump administration took steps on Thursday to end federal housing aid for families with mixed immigration status in an attempt to prevent ineligible immigrants from benefiting from the funds.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said an estimated 24,000 undocumented immigrants, ineligible immigrants and “scammers” in 20,000 mixed-status households benefited from HUD assistance.
Under the proposed rule, a household would not be eligible for assistance unless every member of the household was determined to be eligible.
Households where at least one household member has U.S. citizenship or qualifying immigration status will be eligible for prorated assistance.
It also requires people seeking federal housing assistance to verify citizenship and eligible immigration status.
The department acknowledged that the rule would adversely affect some tenants, but said this would ultimately be offset by reallocating HUD funds to intended beneficiaries.
“The rules proposed by HUD will ensure that all residents in HUD-financed housing are qualified tenants,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner said in a statement.
Shamus Roller, executive director of the National Housing Law Project, condemned the move, which he said would evict tens of thousands of mixed-immigration status families from HUD housing and put many other federally assisted tenants at risk.
President Donald Trump’s first administration tried to impose similar rules in 2019 but was later withdrawn.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Rod Nickell)
