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Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner announced during a press conference in Memphis on Monday that the federal government will be launching a tip-line \u00a0that will allow residents to report illegal aliens or wanted criminals residing in public housing units.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt HUD, we do believe that public housing should be safe. We believe that, and that\u2019s our conviction. A safe community starts with safe housing. If the housing is safe, the community is safe, and we want to take good care of the most vulnerable people in our country,\u201d Turner said while flanked by Attorney General Pam Bondi and Tennessee Governor Bill Lee.<\/p>\n
The secretary said the line will allow public housing residents to call the HUD Office of the Inspector General to report \u201ccriminals, illegal aliens, sex offenders, human traffickers, and those guilty of gang activity, drug distribution, and fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n
The hotline is expected to be rolled out to public housing residents in Memphis \u2014 where the Trump Administration has launched a surge in federal resources to crack down on crime and illegal immigration \u2014 before expanding.<\/p>\n
Turner noted that the Memphis Housing Authority serves more than 9,700 households and receives more than $1.7M to assist federal rental assistance programs. \u201cHere\u2019s our message: Protect your home. Protect your family. If you see it, if you hear about it, report it,\u201d Turner said.<\/p>\n
The tip-line can be reached at 800-374-3735 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m, while people can also file an anonymous tip at any time through a department\u00a0website.<\/p>\n
According to HUD\u2019s own analysis and NLIHC data, approximately 22,000 to 25,000 mixed-status households containing at least one undocumented immigrant are receiving federal housing assistance, including public housing units, Section 8 vouchers, and project-based rental aid. These households are disproportionately located in high-immigration states like New York, California, and Texas<\/p>\n
Another analysis from the\u00a0Center for Immigration Studies, which was conducted in 2023, estimated that 59.4 percent of households headed by undocumented immigrants use at least one major means-tested welfare program, including subsidized and public housing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot allow criminals \u2014 whether gangs, traffickers, or illegal aliens \u2014 to terrorize our communities, especially in places meant to protect the vulnerable like public housing. This tip line is a tool to empower residents and hold perpetrators accountable,\u201d Bondi said during Monday\u2019s press conference.<\/p>\n
The attorney general\u2019s comments framed the tip line as part of a larger crackdown on sanctuary policies and immigration enforcement, echoing her prior actions like\u00a0suing states for \u201ctipping off\u201d undocumented immigrants.<\/p>\n
The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee drew criticism from President Donald Trump and the White House on Tuesday after dismissing a colleague\u2019s text messages with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein as simply \u201ctaking a phone call from her constituent.\u201d Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) made the remark during debate over a resolution to censure Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-U.S. Virgin Islands) for coordinating with Epstein ahead of a Feb. 27, 2019, House Oversight Committee hearing featuring testimony from Michael Cohen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve arraigned a Democratic member for taking a phone call from her constituent, Jeffrey Epstein, in the middle of a hearing,\u201d Raskin said during floor debate. \u201cAnd of course, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any rule here against taking phone calls in a hearing.\u201d He went on to question the basis for the censure effort, asking Republicans where the ethical or legal transgression was and warning them to \u201cbe careful\u201d in setting such a precedent.<\/p>\n
The White House blasted Raskin\u2019s comments, calling him \u201cone of the worst to ever disgrace the halls of Congress\u201d and describing Plaskett\u2019s interaction with Epstein as collusion with a convicted sex offender. Deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson questioned why Raskin was minimizing the interaction, invoking reports about other Democrats\u2019 past connections to Epstein.<\/p>\n
Commentators on social media also condemned Raskin\u2019s defense of Plaskett, with users highlighting alleged hypocrisy and resurfacing his own remarks tying Donald Trump to Epstein. Independent journalist Lee Fang, who has reported on Plaskett\u2019s ties to Epstein, said Raskin\u2019s description was \u201cincredibly dishonest,\u201d pointing to Plaskett\u2019s past work with Epstein-linked interests and political support from his network.<\/p>\n
The motion to censure Plaskett and remove her from the House Intelligence Committee failed in a 214\u2013209 vote. Earlier Tuesday, the House voted 427\u20131 to require the Justice Department to release all files related to Epstein, who was arrested on federal sex-trafficking charges in 2019 and found dead in jail later that year. Copies of Plaskett\u2019s communication with Epstein were among 20,000 documents from his estate released Nov. 12 by the House Oversight Committee.<\/p>\n
In their text exchanges, Epstein advised Plaskett on how to frame her questioning of Michael Cohen, including prompts about other figures at the Trump Organization. \u201cYup. Very aware and waiting my turn,\u201d she responded, according to the New York Post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner announced during a press conference in Memphis on Monday that the federal government will be launching a tip-line \u00a0that will allow residents to report…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}