On Wednesday Housing and Urban Development notified Congress of the new rule, which is to try to block some of the 32,000 illegal immigrant-led families from claiming public housing. The Trump administration claims it is unfair to the hundreds of thousands of Americans who are stuck on a waiting list. A schedule of publication and notice and comment was kicked off and could have the plan finalized by this summer.
If put in in place, this plan would get rid of Clinton-era regulations that did not force illegal immigrants to disclose their status in order to sign up for assistance.
HUD moves to cancel illegal immigrants' public housing access https://t.co/AMV7vavJ48 pic.twitter.com/mZcDOWcw2j
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) April 18, 2019
The new rules would force the leaseholder to be an eligible U.S. person to use public housing. Not only that, but the government would verify the applicants through the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, a federal system that is used to prevent illegal immigrants from using other welfare programs.
“We’ve got our own people to house and need to take care of our citizens,” an administration official said to The Washington Times. “Because of past loopholes in HUD guidance, illegal aliens were able to live in free public housing desperately needed by so many of our own citizens. As illegal aliens attempt to swarm our borders, we’re sending the message that you can’t live off of American welfare on the taxpayers’ dime.”
The access illegal immigrants have to taxpayer-funded welfare and other programs has been a controversial item for a long time.
