The Department of Housing and Urban Development is ordering citizenship checks for tenants in HUD-funded housing, part of its work with the Department of Homeland Security. 

Friday's announcement follows an audit in which the departments found almost 6,000 ineligible non-American tenants in the units, among nearly 200,000 tenants requiring eligibility verification. Another 25,000 tenants in the audit were deceased, HUD said. 

HUD ordered Public Housing Authorities and owners participating in HUD-funded housing to review the report and verify tenants' citizenship and immigration statuses. Those landlords may be required to terminate assistance for ineligible tenants, according to a press release and letter by a HUD official. 

PHAs and owners who don't comply within 30 days will be subject to sanctions, including losing funding for payments made on behalf of ineligible and deceased tenants. The mandate references HUD's agreement last year to work with DHS, although it doesn't make any mention of deportation activity or work with the DHS agency Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

In separate statements HUD officials reiterated the Trump administration's efforts to root out fraud, waste and abuse across the government. HUD wants to prioritize assistance for eligible tenants, including hundreds of thousands of families in housing waitlists nationwide, they said. 

"Ineligible non-citizens have no place to receive welfare benefits," said Secretary Scott Turner in a statement. 

How HUD will verify its tenants' citizenship

In issuing the directive, HUD said it followed statute and President Trump's executive order last February to end taxpayer subsidization of open borders. 

The new database cross references HUD information with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data, and identifies individuals that feds said have information discrepancies in what's known as a Family Report. The list ranges from tenants who the government requires more immigration information, or citizens who aren't eligible for USCIS entitlements. 

PHAs and owners are only asked to submit correct Family Reports to HUD, according to a letter by Ben Hobbs, the department's assistant secretary of Public and Indian Housing who was appointed last month.

HUD has previously indicated it would make referrals to DHS for immigration enforcement activity as part of their partnership. 

The Trump administration's immigration efforts have extended into housing in other areas, such as cutting mortgage access for non-citizens through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Enforcement officials earlier this month also withdrew guidance regarding potential statutory protections for noncitizens applying for credit.