Why are illegal migrants still allowed to live in public housing?

The Trump administration has stanched the flow of illegal immigrants by reversing Biden-era asylum policy and dispatching ICE agents to sanctuary cities.But the White House has yet to roll back one notable Biden rule that drew little attention: permitting undocumented migrants and other noncitizens to live for an unlimited period in public housing. Across the US, there are long — extremely long — waiting lists for public housing apartments and the housing vouchers that pay for rent in privately owned apartments.

In New York City alone, there are 227,000 on the wait list for public housing apartments, and 200,000 waiting for vacancies in the city’s 112,000 housing voucher (a .k. a Section 8) apartments.The city is hardly an exception: in Baltimore, there are 64,000 on the combined waiting lists; in Boston, 42,000; in Milwaukee, 47,000.This is why many on those lists might be surprised to learn that, under rules set by the Biden administration, they are competing for homes not only with their fellow low-income citizens — but with noncitizens and even undocumented migrants.As the rules stand, only one resident in a household must have legal status for a family to qualify for low-rent housing.

In other words, a 3-bedroom public housing unit or subsidized apartment housing three couples could be home to just one green card holder and five undocumented migrants — and all would be legally qualified to live there.No housing authority, including New York City’s, by far the nation’s largest, is violating federal law in permitting illegal aliens to live in its developments, even as thousands of citizens languish on waiting lists.  That might seem inconsistent with 1980 legislation limiting housing aid to American citizens.Over time, however, exceptions were added, first for “non-citizens with eligible immigration status.” During, the Biden administration, that exception was broadened — authorizing aid to “mixed families” composed of both le...