The National Housing Law Project On Trump’s Cruel And Unlawful Immigrant Housing Proposal: We Must Keep Families Together And Housed

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The National Housing Law Project today released the following statement by Executive Director Shamus Roller in response to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Proposed Rule that would evict tens of thousands of families with mixed immigration status from HUD housing and put many other federally-assisted tenants at risk:

“Our country can ensure that every one of us, no matter where we come from or what language we speak, has a safe home. Instead, Trump is trying to evict immigrant families, citizen and non-citizen, from HUD housing. This comes on top of efforts to undermine federal housing programs and use violent ICE and CBP agents to terrorize immigrant communities.   

“Trump’s proposal runs contrary to federal law and is designed to instill fear and hardship on immigrant families. His administration deflects blame for the housing crisis onto immigrants so they can continue dismantling HUD’s hallmark and lifesaving housing programs. The result would be over 100,000 people evicted, including more than 37,000 children, many of them citizens. HUD also seeks to enlist housing authorities and owners into immigration enforcement and away from its core mission–providing affordable housing in the midst of a national housing crisis.  

“We defeated this unlawful proposal during the first Trump administration and we’re ready to fight back with our allies and do it again. We reject Trump and HUD’s blatant attempt to divide us. We affirm our commitment to protect immigrants, HUD tenants, and the families in our country who need the stability of a safe home.”

The National Housing Law Project is reviewing the details of the proposal and will provide an analysis soon. In 2019, the National Housing Law Project helped lead tenants and advocates to stop the first Trump administration from evicting and separating immigrant families by helping to submit to HUD over 30,000 comments that rejected the proposal.