Laws which restrict renting to illegal aliens seem to be difficult to uphold. After reading up on a this I wonder if the following would be legal.

Step 1 : Require licensing of rental units, include state restrictions on occupancy per unit (HUD has some guidelines), include a yearly fee to be paid to the state for inspections. Include health and safety requirements in the regulations that are reasonable.


Step 2 : HUD put out a memo after 9/11 regarding screening of non-US citizens stating that it was requiring prospective residents to provide documentation of their citizenship or immigration status during the screening does not violate the Fair Housing Act. HUD regulations outline the process for collecting and verifying the documents as required by HUD.

Require landlords to use the procedure outlined by HUD.

Step 3 : Create a state tax exemption or rebate via the law to give back part of the funds collected as a license fee if the landlord has complied with the regulations. Lower the licensing fee if the landlord is free from violations for so many years.


This could be refined, I am not a legal authority, but from what I have read this appears to be more difficult to attack. I am in now way advocating limiting rentals to those legally in the US, only to those illegally in the US.

As another point, any alien that is not authorized to work in the US, whether legally present or not, should be considered as fraudulently obtaining an immigration benefit. The right to work in the US by non-citizens is an immigration benefit as I understand it.