The Trump administration has launched a nationwide review of public housing to identify and remove residents living in the country illegally, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner announced.
In a directive, Turner said each public housing authority has 30 days to conduct an audit to verify compliance with existing rules. Agencies are being asked to provide information on housing units and confirm the citizenship or “eligible immigration status” of residents.
“No longer will illegal aliens be able to leave citizenship boxes blank or take advantage of HUD-funded housing, riding the coattails of hardworking American citizens,” Turner wrote earlier this month.
“Currently, HUD only serves one out of four eligible families due, in part, to the lack of enforcement of prohibition against federally funded assistance to illegal aliens,” he added.
Programs that fail to comply with the review could face scrutiny of their federal funding, HUD Secretary Scott Turner warned.
In an interview in late August on Fox News Channel’s Jesse Watters Primetime with guest host Charles Hurt, Turner said the D.C. Housing Authority was the first to be placed on notice. He added that more than 3,000 other public housing authorities nationwide are receiving the same directive, emphasizing that “American citizens will be prioritized.
“Anyone in this country illegally should be deported, not given publicly funded housing!” Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, posted to X.
“This is already the law – proof of citizenship is a requirement for any public housing or section 8 unit. Requiring a second, immediate accounting will not provide a massive correction or eviction. It will simply divert staff from serving American seniors, vets etc.,” former Housing and Urban Development employee Cat Vielma said.
In March, HUD Secretary Scott Turner and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem signed a memorandum of understanding to increase oversight of public housing in response to the surge in illegal immigration during the Biden administration.
“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,” Noem said. “If you are an illegal immigrant, you should leave now. The gravy train is over.”
Washington, D.C., has become a central focus of the Trump administration in recent weeks, with a surge of National Guard troops and federal law enforcement deployed to address rising crime. Officials have indicated that other Democratic-led cities, such as Chicago, could soon see similar troop deployments and stepped-up immigration enforcement operations.
Meanwhile, a federal appeals court ruled last week that President Trump likely has the authority to revoke Biden-era parole programs that granted temporary entry to certain migrants, overturning a lower court decision that sought to limit his power.