Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner announced Monday that their agencies will work together to prevent illegal migrants from living in public housing.
The Trump administration aims to end the “wasteful misappropriation” of taxpayer money going to subsidize housing for illegal migrants by having DHS “identify illegal aliens who are ineligible for Federal housing assistance” to HUD, according to the new memorandum of understanding between the two agencies.
“American tax dollars should be used for the benefit of American citizens, especially when it comes to an issue as pressing as our nation’s housing crisis,” Turner said in a statement. “This new agreement will leverage resources including technology and personnel to ensure American people are the only priority when it comes to public housing.”
“We will continue to work closely with DHS to maximize our resources and put American citizens first.”
The MOU indicates that “veterans in need” stand to benefit from the cooperation agreement, which will facilitate “data sharing” between HUD and DHS.
“The Biden Administration prioritized illegal aliens over our own citizens, including by giving illegal aliens taxpayer-funding housing at the expense of Americans. Not anymore,” Noem said in a statement. “The entire government will work together to identify abuse and exploitation of public benefits and make sure those in this country illegally are not receiving federal benefits or other financial incentives to stay illegally.”
“If you are an illegal immigrant, you should leave now,” the DHS chief added. “The gravy train is over.”
HUD cited data from the Center for Immigration Studies showing that about 59% of illegal migrant households benefit from at least one government welfare program, creating roughly $42 billion in costs.
The agency said there are at least 9 million residents of public and subsidized housing “without proper information sharing to determine eligibility status.”
In addition to signing the MOU, Turner also instructed the offices of Public and Indian Housing (PIH), Moving to Work (MTW) and Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) to comply with federal laws that already prohibit HUD-funded service providers from providing financial assistance to illegal migrants.
