GOP Bill Targets Taxpayer-Funded Housing Benefits for Illegal Immigrants: ‘It’s Got to Stop’

Republican lawmakers are moving to prevent illegal immigrants from benefiting from federally subsidized housing while threatening to withhold community-development funding from sanctuary cities.

Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., is introducing the End Housing Welfare for Illegal Aliens Act, legislation that would tighten eligibility verification, close what Republicans describe as loopholes in federal housing programs and restrict certain grants to jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

“Illegal immigrants have been allowed to participate in federally subsidized housing programs,” Hagerty told Fox News Digital. “They’re using American taxpayer dollars to jump to the front of the line while putting Americans at the back of the lines. It’s got to stop.”

The legislation is part of a broader effort by President Donald Trump’s administration and congressional Republicans to prevent illegal immigrants and sanctuary jurisdictions from receiving federal benefits they contend should be reserved for American citizens and eligible legal residents.

According to Hagerty, preliminary estimates from the administration indicate that approximately 24,000 ineligible immigrants and others are benefiting from Department of Housing and Urban Development programs.

“Again, crowding out Americans that would be deserving of these programs and, again, putting illegals into these positions,” Hagerty said.

Federal housing assistance is already intended for U.S. citizens and certain categories of eligible noncitizens. However, assistance may currently be provided to qualifying members of “mixed-status” households that also include ineligible residents. The amount of assistance is generally prorated according to the number of eligible household members.

Hagerty’s proposal would codify the Trump administration’s efforts to eliminate that arrangement and ensure the restrictions remain in place under future administrations.

“HUD housing assistance is intended for U.S. citizens and certain eligible noncitizens, yet HUD resources serve only a quarter of eligible households in need,” HUD said in a statement.

The department said a recent audit conducted with the Department of Homeland Security identified nearly 200,000 tenants whose eligibility verification was incomplete or unknown.

“Furthermore, HUD estimates approximately 24,000 illegal aliens, ineligibles and fraudsters in 20,000 ‘mixed-status households’ benefit from HUD assistance,” the department said.

Hagerty said he expects the Trump administration to aggressively address the issue but wants the restrictions written into federal law so they cannot simply be reversed by a future Democratic administration.

“This current administration is going to do everything it can, I’m certain, to stop this type of fraudulent behavior,” Hagerty said. “But what I want to do is preclude this from happening if there were ever to be another Democrat administration.”

The bill would require public housing authorities to verify an applicant’s citizenship or eligible immigration status before providing assistance. It would change existing statutory language from “may” verify eligibility to “shall,” making verification mandatory rather than discretionary.

The legislation would also explicitly prohibit illegal immigrants from qualifying for Section 202 housing for low-income elderly residents and Section 811 housing for people with disabilities.

“Illegal aliens are pushing out and crowding out people that are disabled, American taxpayers that are disabled, elderly that are disabled,” Hagerty said.

Another provision would deny Community Development Block Grants to sanctuary cities. Those federal grants support affordable housing, infrastructure improvements and other local programs.

Hagerty characterized the grants as Biden-era incentives for cities and states that adopted sanctuary policies. He also argued that illegal immigration benefits Democratic-controlled jurisdictions because congressional districts and Electoral College votes are allocated using total population counts, which include residents who are not citizens.

“What the Biden administration did, they were creating incentives for people to come here illegally,” Hagerty said. “You think about where they situated sanctuary cities—in blue states, where they’re losing population, where they’re losing voters.”

“Why?” he continued. “Because you can count these illegal aliens for the purpose of allocating congressional districts. You can count them for the purpose of locating electoral votes. That is the motive behind the crime.”

The bill joins a larger Republican campaign to intensify immigration enforcement and restrict access to taxpayer-supported programs for people living in the country illegally.

“The goal is to pass the legislation,” Hagerty said. “And I think if you polled Americans, you’d find this is extraordinarily popular.”