Trump administration denying federal housing assistance to DACA recipients: report

The Trump administration has reportedly begun instructing mortgage lenders against issuing federal housing assistance loans to DACA recipients, according to BuzzFeed News.

The outlet reported Friday that a lender at USA Mortgage who previously worked with a DACA recipient to obtain a loan through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) said the Trump administration was at fault for the reported loan denials.

The lender told the outlet that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) had decided that FHA loans can no longer be granted to DACA recipients.

{mosads}“It was not USA Mortgage decision, it’s HUD decision that FHA loans can no longer be made to DACA. We are following HUD rules,” the USA Mortgage official, who was not named, told BuzzFeed.

A HUD official did not immediately return a request for comment from The Hill.

BuzzFeed News reported that the department did not answer questions about when the decision was made, and why mortgage lenders are reportedly receiving such guidance.

HUD spokesperson Brian Sullivan directed the outlet to an FAQ posted on the department’s website. The page does not specifically address DACA, but states that non-U.S. citizens are eligible for loans if they meet certain criteria, BuzzFeed noted.

According to the outlet, HUD has issued no official policy change, but lenders told BuzzFeed that FHA and HUD officials simply have not put such guidance not to issue FHA-backed loans to DACA recipients in writing.

DACA, an Obama-era immigration program, allows immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children to remain in the country without fear of deportation. President Trump’s decision to rescind the program has prompted numerous legal challenges.

The Trump administration contends that the DACA policy is unlawful and warns that it risks being invalidated by a separate lawsuit led by Texas and other states challenging the Obama-era policy’s legality.