Enforcing the eligibility status of recipients of Section 8 public housing vouchers is an effort to intimidate and instill fear, say opponents of a newly announced federal audit of housing providers that aims to compel compliance with federal laws barring illegal immigrants from obtaining housing assistance.
“This isn’t just a housing memo — it’s a destabilizing force. You tell a family in East Baltimore that they have 30 days to prove their citizenship or lose their home, and you’re not enforcing law — you’re enforcing fear,” says Maryland’s governor, Wes Moore. Mr. Moore has been verbally jousting with President Trump for two weeks over crime and safety issues in Baltimore and elsewhere.
“We’ve seen this playbook before. It’s about shrinking the safety net under the guise of accountability,” Mr. Moore said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
On Friday, President Trump’s Housing and Urban Development secretary, Scott Turner, issued a directive ordering a nationwide audit of public housing authorities to require them to verify citizenship or legal eligibility to receive support through Section 8 housing vouchers.
Section 8 already prohibits illegal immigrants from receiving assistance. However, Mr. Turner said he was concerned about authorities letting illegal aliens off the hook but not enforcing a line in the application that requires immigrants to swear that they are eligible.
“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,” he said in a statement.
“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,” the statement continues.
Mr. Turner put housing authorities on notice, threatening to cut funding to public housing authorities that do not comply with the rule. Housing providers have 30 days to audit their tenants’ status.
“We want the names, the address, the number of people in the unit, the size of the unit, the cost of the unit, and they must give us their American citizen status or eligible immigration status,” Mr. Turner told Fox News on Friday evening, noting that the priority for newly available vouchers will go to American citizens.
The audit is the outcome of a February executive order by President Trump that aimed to prevent taxpayer dollars from being spent on programs that aid illegal immigrants. The directive follows a March 2025 memorandum between the Mr. Turner’s agency and the Department of Homeland Security as well as an April 5 letter to stakeholders that states the housing department will take steps “to ensure federal resources do not support ‘sanctuary’ policies in States and local jurisdictions that actively prevent federal authorities from deporting illegal aliens.”
Opponents of the audit say that cutting people from the housing voucher rolls will reduce access and deepen inequities. They add that it creates fear and confusion among eligible tenants and could trigger lawsuits if evictions are mishandled.
“What Turner is doing isn’t about enforcement — it’s about intimidation. It’s about sending a message that immigrants aren’t welcome, even when they’re here legally,” Representative Ro Khanna of California said in an interview Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“We should be expanding housing access, not weaponizing it. This directive risks violating due process and could trigger a wave of wrongful evictions,” said Mr. Khanna.
Illegal aliens have been denied eligibility to housing vouchers since 1980, though the current housing voucher program was established in 1937. Today’s Section 8 program dates back to 1974 when housing subsidies were awarded directly to tenants identifying a qualifying landlord and to specific housing authorities that run rental buildings.
The first Trump administration had little success ensuring vouchers were not in the hands of illegal immigrants. In 2019, the housing department issued a rule blocking use of Section 8 vouchers by “mixed status” families, which contain illegal and legal immigrants. The order was reversed by the Biden administration in 2021.
In 2019, the Trump administration attempted to update an 1882 law on assistance to “public charges” — immigrants who are “likely or liable” to become dependent on government assistance — to include recipients of non-cash benefits like housing vouchers, food stamps, and Medicaid. The rule was blocked by a court and again reversed in 2021.
