From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Hailey Gomez

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner said Friday on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime” that illegal immigrants may no longer “live in taxpayer-funded housing.”

In March, Turner and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the “American Housing Programs for American Citizens,” ending “the wasteful misappropriation of taxpayer dollars to benefit illegal aliens instead of American citizens.” Discussing how HUD plans to prevent illegal migrants from living in public housing, Turner said the department has already issued a letter to the D.C. Housing Authority requesting its full list of residents and those without U.S. citizenship.

“President Trump is serious not only in cleaning up the crime in our streets, but also American citizens will be prioritized when it comes to living in HUD-funded, government-funded housing,” Turner said. “We just sent out a letter to the D.C. Housing Authority, and it has been received by them. And, as you said, they have 30 days to give us a full, comprehensive account of everyone living inside of D.C. housing that are receiving Section 8 vouchers or any type of HUD funding.”

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“We want the names, the address, the number of people in the unit, the size of the unit, the cost of the unit. And they must give us their American citizenship status or eligible immigration status. 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 data,” Turner added. “But those days are over. We are collecting  the data to make sure they’re illegal aliens. And for that criminal activity, no one doing criminal activity is living in HUD-funded housing, which is literally on the backs of taxpayers in America.”

Under the Biden administration, the border crisis became a major issue for the president as officials estimated a total of 10.8 million encounters with illegal migrants since fiscal year 2021. With a massive influx of illegal immigrants coming into the United States, Democrat mayors of sanctuary cities like Denver and New York City eventually asked the administration for funding to address the issue in 2023.

By 2024, reports indicated that due to the surge of illegal immigrants, the U.S. had an estimated shortage of 4 million to 7 million housing units, with developers struggling to keep up with the demand for homes. In addition to housing concerns, rent in 2024 saw an increase of 20.9% since 2021, which had already risen due to inflation under Biden.

According to data from the Center for Immigration Studies, an estimated 59% of illegal immigrant households use one or more welfare programs, which costs taxpayers an estimated $42 billion.

From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Jason Hopkins

The Trump administration is ending a longstanding tax exemption on low-value packages, a move White House officials say will create jobs, raise revenue and even save lives.

By early Friday morning, tariff exemptions for packages shipped to the United States worth $800 or less, popularly known as the “de minimis” rule, will come to an end for all countries, senior administration officials said. The move comes months after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to end the de minimis exemption for China and Hong Kong.

The White House fiercely defended the action during a Thursday press call, framing it as defense against the flow of drugs and the protection of American workers.

“Foreign post offices need to get their act together when it comes to monitoring and policing the use of international mail for smuggling and tariff evasion purposes,” Navarro added. “We are going to help them do that, but at this point, they are vastly underperforming express carriers like FedEx, DHL and UPS. In an age of AI, information saves lives.”

Established by Congress in 1938, the de minimis exemption has, for decades, allowed low-value packages to enter the U.S. duty free. The exemption threshold has risen over the years, with the last change in 2016 including products valued at or below $800.

The vast majority of shipped products fall within the exemption, with more than 92% of all cargo entering the U.S. entering via de minimis, according to Customs and Border Protection.

In April, Trump signed an executive order formally ending the de minimis exemption for China and Hong Kong. Shippers from the People’s Republic of China, the president said, hide “illicit substances” and “conceal the true contents of shipments” sent to the U.S. and avoid detection due to the de minimis exemption.

An executive order Trump signed in late July set the stage for the exemption to end for all countries by Aug. 29. In an accompanying fact sheet for the July order, the White House referred to the de minimis exemption as a “catastrophic loophole” used to evade tariffs, funnel deadly synthetic opioids and inundate the country with unsafe or below-market products that negatively affect businesses.

“The minimum loophole was one of the dumbest things this country ever did,” Navarro said Thursday. “If you do your homework, you look around the rest of the world, and nobody comes even close to the $800 de minimis standard. There’s other countries, they’re five bucks, 10 bucks.”

Not everything will be affected by the change. Personal gifts worth under $100 and letters remain under the exemption, senior administration officials said.