The HUD immigration plan could move 55K kids

A HUD plan to end housing assistance for undocumented immigrants would move more than 55,000 US citizen children or legal residents, according to an analysis of the rule proposed by staff.

HUD presented the proposal as a way to reduce waiting lists for US citizens looking for subsidized housing. The proposal "would remove a loophole and ensure that we apply what already exists in the law," said Secretary Ben Carson. tweeted Friday.

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Current law prohibits HUD from providing financial assistance to undocumented immigrants. But according to the current functioning of the rules, a so-called mixed-status family, composed of citizens and non-citizens, may receive pro-rated housing assistance if one of the members is an eligible citizen.

The new rule would require that each member of the family benefiting from the aid be an eligible citizen.

According to HUD, approximately 25,000 families living in federally funded housing have an ineligible member.

Democrats and housing advocates quickly criticized the rule, released Friday in the Federal Register.

"This rule proposal is another despicable action by the Trump administration to disrupt communities and separate families," said Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, the largest Democrat of the Banking Committee.

"If Secretary Carson and the White House really wanted to meet the housing needs, they would not have reduced the number of affordable housing units in their budget," Brown said.

A regulatory analysis conducted by HUD staff revealed that just over 76,000 people are eligible members of mixed households, 73% of whom are children. Mixed families with eligible parents and ineligible children are much rarer.

"HUD expects that the fear of family separation will lead to a rapid evacuation of most mixed households, that this fear is justified," HUD staff wrote.

"It is assumed that it is unlikely that smaller households with parents and children will separate in order to maintain housing assistance. According to this hypothesis, most mixed households are likely to leave housing with assistance, "the staff wrote. "Temporary homelessness can occur for a household if he is unable to find another home."