HUD Sec. Scott Turner told CNBC the reason there's a housing and labor shortage is that people not legally here are taking the homes away from US citizens, which is a cataclysmic lie.
Sec. Turner and many others in the Trump administration use this lie to attack migrants coming into the country and blame all their cock-ups and problems on them. Yet, they never give us any evidence, any actual data proving how these migrants have hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase these homes. If they have the down payment, how can they get a mortgage?
It's ridiculous.
Turner also claimed that regulations have impacted the construction of houses in America, but CNBC host Becky Quick pushed back against his lies with some truths. Namely, Trump's many incompetent actions.
QUICK: No question that regulatory overreach has impacted the cost of housing coming in, but it's also been impacted by fewer immigrants being allowed into the country to work in some of these trades. It's been impacted by the tariffs that have created higher prices for lumber and so forth.
How do you comment?
TURNER: Well, yeah, I'm gonna push back on that from the immigration standpoint. We have enough American people to take American jobs.
You know, when you look at...
QUICK: We're in a pretty good labor market right now. We're talking about a relatively low unemployment rate. We do, we have 4.3. The biggest complaint from small businesses is that they can't find the labor.
TURNER: About 4.3 unemployment rate, which is good. You know, the market is very sustainable right now, but we have enough American people to take American jobs.
When you look at tens of millions of people coming across our border, unchecked, unvetted, from a HUD standpoint...
QUICK: I'm not looking for unchecked immigration by any stretch.
TURNER: No, I know that. But from a HUD standpoint, from a housing standpoint, it makes the cost go up for housing. Houses for American people are taken by those that are not here legally, so it all comes together.
Really? How? Are landlords and banks just giving migrants a free hand to do whatever they like? Banks are not charity centers.
Quick didn't relent, as a Joe Kernen would.
TURNER: We have enough American people for the American jobs, so I don't really buy that.
QUICK: What about the idea of higher lumber prices and other issues that have come through from the tariffs? Because some of the builders we've had on the program...
TURNER: Yeah, and I understand that, but the president's laser focus on that to bring those costs down as well, and the builders know it.
You know, home sales have gone up.
Home sales have ticked up, but if that's the case, then how can migrants afford them?
Scott Turner is another in a long line of liars populating the Trump administration.
