“The Gravy Train is Over”—HUD, DHS Team up to End Subsidized Public Housing for Illegal Immigrants

Over half of illegal immigrant households in the United States use at least one taxpayer-funded welfare program, according to congressional testimony provided recently by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and it costs the government tens of billions of dollars establishing that clamping down on the unprecedented flow of migrants is only the first step to mitigate the damage of the Biden administration’s disastrous open border polices. One major area of concern is government-subsidized public housing, which became available to illegal aliens under policies established by the previous administration’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

To reverse the damage amid a nationwide affordable housing crisis, two key government agencies have teamed up to crackdown on illegal immigrants benefitting from taxpayer-funded public housing. Trump HUD Secretary Scott Turner and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to end the wasteful misappropriation of taxpayer dollars to benefit illegal aliens instead of American citizens, especially veterans in need. Under the agreement HUD will provide a full-time staff member to assist in operations at the Incident Command Center (ICC), creating an interagency partnership to facilitate data sharing and ensure taxpayer-funded housing programs are not used to harbor or benefit illegal aliens. “We will safeguard precious taxpayer resources, and we will stop the harmful practices of the former Biden Administration, which favored and prioritized illegal aliens over American citizens in the expenditure of housing funds and subsidies,” the HUD-DHS MOU states.

The agencies will collaborate to facilitate and coordinate efforts to place Americans first by establishing lines of communications and developing joint measures to accomplish President Trump’s directive to protect Americans and their resources. “Further, we will work together to identify criminal aliens who prey upon and victimize the American people,” the MOU reads. “By working more closely together and with greater collaboration, we will identify illegal aliens who are ineligible for Federal housing assistance and take remedial measures to end this waste and abuse, including referral for immigration enforcement actions.” A few days later HUD also announced that illegal immigrants would no longer qualify for government-backed mortgages through a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) program that lends to “non-permanent residents.” The new policy ensures that illegal aliens cannot access FHA-insured financing and refocuses the use of taxpayer-funded federal housing programs to benefit U.S. citizens.

DHS Secretary Noem points out that the Biden administration prioritized illegal aliens over American citizens, including by giving them taxpayer-funded housing. “Not anymore,” she says in the press release announcing the new HUD partnership. “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.” The DHS Secretary further warns that the gravy train is over for those in the country illegally. “If you are an illegal immigrant, you should leave now,” Noem said. HUD Secretary Turner assures his agency’s new agreement with DHS will leverage resources to ensure American people are the only priority when it comes to public housing.

Uncle Sam spends a whopping $42 billion to provide illegal immigrants with an array of welfare services, according to CIS figures presented to Congress less than a year ago. This includes housing, food, healthcare, public education, and other social services. As an example of the toll this is taking on local communities, CIS revealed that the city of New York has spent or expects to spend $12 billion over the next three years on housing, food, health care, and other services for recently arrived illegal immigrants. Chicago spent around $361 million to accommodate recently arrived migrants, the District of Columbia about $36.4 million and Denver approximately $180 million, more than triple what it spends on the homeless. A few years ago, Judicial Watch reported on a congressional probe that determined the cost of illegal immigration is greater than the annual gross domestic product of 15 states.