Donald Trump’s administration has acknowledged a new plan to purge undocumented immigrants from receiving forms of housing assistance would likely force thousands of children living in the US legally into homelessness.

The department of housing and urban development released an analysis of the impact a new policy would have on current recipients of public housing, after officials unveiled a plan to restrict all undocumented immigrants from receiving federal subsidies for housing.

While undocumented immigrants living in family units where at least one person is living in the US legally — including a child — can currently receive public housing assistance, the new guidelines would tighten those regulations to ban all families consisting of undocumented immigrants.

Under the new guidelines, nearly 108,000 people could stand to lose housing benefits, including 55,000 children who live in the country legally, according to the HUD analysis.

In a statement released last month, housing secretary Ben Carson said the new plan would “make certain our scarce public resources help those who are legally entitled to it”.

Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Show all 14 1 /14 Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Immigrant children, many of whom are separated form their parents, are housed in Texas' tent city Reuters Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border A two-year-old Honduran asylum seeker cries as her mother is searched and detained near the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Undocumented migrants ride on the top of a freight train referred to as the beast, or La Bestia Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border A cage inside a US Customs and Border Protection detention facility in Texas Reuters Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US Border Patrol Academy All new agents must complete a months-long training course at the New Mexico facility before assuming their posts at Border Patrol stations, mostly along the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence A group of young men walk along the Mexican side of the US-Mexico border fence in a remote area of the Sonoran Desert Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence in the US Man looks through US-Mexico border fence into the US in Tijuana, Mexico Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence US Border Patrol agent Sal De Leon stands near a section of the US-Mexico border fence while stopping on patrol on in La Joya, Texas Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US Border Patrol Academy US Border Patrol instructor yells at trainees after their initial arrival to the academy Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Memorial service in Guatemala Families attend a memorial service for two boys who were kidnapped and killed in San Juan Sacatepequez, Guatemala. Crime drives emigration from Guatemala to the United States, as families seek refuge from the danger Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Arrests on the border Undocumented immigrants comfort each other after being caught by Border Patrol agents near the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Detention holding facility A boy from Honduras watches a movie at a detention facility run by the US Border Patrol Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Mexican farm workers Mexican migrant workers harvest organic parsley at Grant Family Farms in Wellington, Colorado Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Mexican family in Arizona A Mexican immigrant family sits in the living room of their rented home in Tuscon, Arizona. The family that Arizona's new tough immigrant law had created a climate of fear in the immigrant community. Getty

The new proposal would impact approximately 25,000 households, according to the agency’s estimates, and revoke benefits for nearly 76,000 people in total who are living in the country legally.

The agency acknowledges the plan could lead to “temporary homelessness” for impacted families, while suggesting it would serve as an effective deterrent policy to limit undocumented immigration in the US.

“HUD expects that fear of the family being separated would lead to prompt evacuation by most mixed households,” the analysis read. “Temporary homelessness could arise for a household, if they are unable to find alternative housing.”

Immigrants and housing rights groups decried the new policy proposal, pushed by White House senior adviser Stephen Miller and published Friday in the federal register, saying it would make people “much more afraid” about accessing benefits.

“This is going to make people much more afraid because they are going to think they will not be able to get a green card or citizenship if they access benefits,” Susan Popkin, a housing expert at the Urban Institute, told the Washington Post.

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