Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner announced a new hotline on Monday, encouraging Americans to report illegal immigrants who reside in public housing.
Turner created the hotline after declaring that public housing should be a “sanctuary” for American citizens, not illegal immigrants.
”Illegal aliens have no place in public housing,” Turner said at a press conference.
Turner announced the hotline during a visit to Memphis, Tennessee, which is currently home to ongoing raids from federal law enforcement to tackle the city’s violence spurred by illegal immigration.
“A safe community starts with safe housing,” Turner stated.
“We want to take good care of the most vulnerable people in our country,” Turned added. “[We want public housing to be filled with] peace and security, free from the horrors of violent crime.”
Turner stood alongside Attorney General Pamela Bondi in the press conference, who has directed the Department of Justice to collaborate with HUD on the hotline in an attempt to “make Memphis safe again.”
Other members who appeared at the press conference included Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN), Rep. David Kustoff (R-TN), Director of the United States Marshals Service Gady Serralta, the state’s Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton (R-TN), the U.S. Marshal for Tennessee Tyreece Miller.
HUD THREATENS FUNDING FOR PUBLIC HOUSING AUTHORITIES SHIELDING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
Turner’s announcements come after he pledged to abolish policies that allow illegal immigrants to live off of taxpayer-funded public housing in America in September, after promising to collect citizenship data from tenants of the government assistance program in August.
“No longer will we allow illegal aliens to live in taxpayer-funded housing here in America. In the last administration, in the Biden administration, they turned a blind eye. They didn’t collect the [citizenship] data, but those days are over. We are collecting the data to make sure that illegal aliens no longer live in public housing that is literally off the backs of American taxpayers,” Turner stated on Fox News.
