House Democrats accuse Ben Carson of throwing children on the street with immigration rule

House Democrats accused Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson Tuesday of moving to take away housing from U.S. citizens, especially children, with a proposed rule targeting subsidies for illegal immigrants and their families.

“Your plan to create vacancies by making [an estimated] 55,000 American children homeless is among the most damaging proposals I have ever seen in public policy, and quite frankly I find it despicable,” Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., told Carson at a Financial Services Committee hearing. “By evicting mixed-status households, you will rip apart families and throw children on the street.”

Carson defended the rulemaking as following law to prevent illegal immigrants from receiving housing subsidies and prioritizing the needs of other U.S. citizens.

“The secretary has the duty to end assistance if he finds that someone is violating that,” Carson said.

The rulemaking coincides with the introduction of a new immigration reform plan from the Trump administration. Democrats on the committee questioned the possible effects of the rulemaking, as well as its motivation.

Pressed as to whether Carson coordinated the policy with White House senior adviser Stephen Miller or acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Carson responded, “We have conversations all the time about many of our policies.”

The proposed rule, published on May 10, would require the verification of eligible immigration status for every resident receiving housing assistance under the age of 62. The change is aimed at ensuring subsidies don’t go toward those who broke the law to come to the U.S. at the expense of citizens or those here legally.

[Related: Maxine Waters demands Ben Carson withdraw ‘senseless’ proposal targeting ‘mixed immigration’ families]

But the department’s own impact analysis of the proposed policy says it could displace thousands of U.S. citizens, many of them children, due to the number of households that would be affected that are of “mixed” immigration status — where some or most residents of a household are legal immigrants or citizens while others are not.

“Some households, especially those previously classified as “mixed” households may be denied assistance or simply terminated from a program,” the department’s analysis concluded. The same analysis said that would affect approximately 25,000 households, with children making up 73% of the legal residents or citizens in those households.

Carson said he will allow applications for deferrals of six months each to be granted up to three times for households, in theory allowing residents up to 18 months to secure housing upon notification that their assistance was terminated.

“It is plenty of time for Congress to engage in comprehensive immigration reform,” he said. “The answer to that is because we won’t deal with the underlying problem.”

The comment period for the proposed rule is scheduled to close on July 9.

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