HUD resurrects first-term Trump policy to eject all non-citizens from public housing

The Trump administration announced Thursday it is reviving a first-term policy to eject undocumented immigrants from public housing nationwide.

HUD Secretary Scott Turner declared a “zero tolerance” policy to remove “illegal aliens” and “fraudsters” from taxpayer-funded units. He said they were “riding the coattails of American taxpayers.”

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is stepping up scrutiny of public housing rolls and will sanction authorities that fail to properly verify residents’ legal status.

This returns to the 2019 plan pushed by Stephen Miller to address long waiting lists for public housing by prioritizing eligible households.

The policy ends the “roommate loophole” that previously allowed mixed-status families to live together with prorated subsidies for legal members.

A 2019 HUD analysis found more than 108,000 people in households with at least one undocumented immigrant. As many as 55,000 of those were U.S. citizen or legal children who would be displaced.

The department’s announcement was headlined: “Illegals, Ineligibles, and Fraudsters: Pack Your Bags.”