When you hear about some of the ways that illegal aliens try to trick the system to get as much free stuff as they possibly can it makes me think of a neighbor that I have who came to the United States many years ago.
He and his wife came here through students visas legally and went through the application process for green cards and eventually became citizens. It was one of the happiest days of their life when they got that letter in the mail.
The thing about it is the man or his wife never took one penny of government assistance. As a matter of fact, the closest thing to assistance that he ever actually needed was worker’s compensation for about a month when he broke his foot in an accident at work. It’s people like that who we should welcome into the county with open arms.
Perhaps just as impactful as illegal migration across our nation’s porous southern border is the manner in which some of those illegal aliens proceed to game the system.
Once across the border, some illegal immigrants take advantage of taxpayer-funded government benefits that are intended solely for American citizens.
Accordingly — and in line with President Donald Trump’s “America First” policy — some government departments and agencies are looking closely for ways in which they can change certain rules or close various loopholes to stop this exploitation.
The Daily Caller reported exclusively that the Department of Housing and Urban Development, led by Secretary Ben Carson, is one of those departments aiming to prevent ineligible illegal aliens from further taking advantage of benefits designed for citizens and certain classes of eligible non-citizens.
According to Section 214 of the Housing and Community Development Act, first passed into law in 1980, most non-citizens were prohibited from applying for and obtaining federal financial housing assistance.
By virtue of “mixed family” households that include both citizens or eligible non-citizens as well as ineligible illegal aliens, the prohibition has been skirted by some. Consequently, there are illegal aliens that inappropriately receive federal housing subsidies.
The HUD department is expected to produce a proposal in the near future which would crack down on that particular loophole.
Such a proposal would make sure that anyone who is not eligible to receive federal benefits cannot even live in households that do receive those benefits — even if that individual is not the direct recipient.
This proposal would reportedly bring ineligible illegal aliens’ exploitation of benefits to an end by forcing all households receiving such benefits — particularly those households where illegal aliens reside — to either comply with the new rule or vacate the subsidized housing unit entirely.
HUD will use what is called the SAVE program — Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements — to screen all subsidy-receiving households for compliance.
In other words, every household that receives benefits will have to prove that each family member residing in the household is either a U.S. citizen or a legal non-citizen who falls into one of the various categories of eligibility.
Should any of the benefit-receiving households be found to not be in compliance, and one or more family members do not qualify as eligible, then there is an appeals process that can be pursued.