Senate majority leader John Tune (R-SD) will speak to reporters on June 24, 2025 at Capitol Hill in Washington.
Tasos Katopodis | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Economists and policy experts said Republican megaville, which lawmakers are about to pass by July 4, would round out the finances of immigrant households, including those legal in the United States.
The laws defended by President Donald Trump limit access to tax benefits, such as child tax credits. Republicans in the House and Senate have included immigration taxes sent abroad, known as remittances, and a $1,000 fee for those seeking asylum.
Tara Watson, director of the Brookings Agency’s Center for Economic Security and Opportunity, said:
“I think this makes a huge difference,” to their financial lives,” Watson said.
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The Republican majority House Judiciary Committee, chairing Rep. R-Ohio, said in a statement last month that some of the fiscal measures aim to “independently” immigration services.
“This is about providing resources to enforce immigration laws and implementing responsible fiscal policies,” the committee said.
Republicans are cutting safety net spending more widely to help fund the so-called big beautiful bill. The benefits of people occur primarily in wealthy households, data show.
Cuts also occur when the Trump administration pursues an aggressive deportation agenda.
The law is still fluid and varies slightly between the House and Senate versions. The Senate can vote for the measure this week.
In some cases, GOP lawmakers may not be able to limit their profits to the extent they wish to.
For example, a nonpartisan procedural advisor, a Senator, recently ruled that the GOP must strip the provisions of laws that curb immigrant eligibility for benefits in the Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program, previously known as Food Stamps.
Congress also hit the Republican proposal to deny certain legal immigrants from federal health benefits, according to a Senate Budget Committee announcement Thursday. The bill’s text included provisions to reduce access to Medicaid, Medicare and Affordable Care Act insurance.
It is unclear how Republicans will change the law to settle these rulings.
Immigration is prohibited from tax benefits
February 16, 2025, the views of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Building in Washington, DC, USA.
Annabelle Gordon | Reuters
Some of the most influential tax changes limit child tax credits, Watson said.
The 2017 tax law prohibited parents from claiming credit for children who do not have a Social Security number during Trump’s first term. The House and Senate will make this provision permanent and affect an estimated 1 million children.
GOP lawmakers will further reduce access to children whose parents do not have a Social Security number. The change will “exclusively” affect children who are US citizens or legal resident, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
Watson said the House bill on the issue is stricter than the Senate.
Under the House bill, the child is not eligible for credit if either of them does not have a Social Security number, she said. The Senate allows the child to benefit if at least one parent has a suitable SSN for the job.
According to the Center for Immigration Research, the House bill’s policy would reduce access to around 4.5 million children with Social Security numbers.
The five states where the largest estimated child count is affected are California (910,000), Texas (875,000), Florida (247,000), New York (226,000) and Illinois (196,000).
Parents and caregivers of the Economic Security Project will meet outside the White House on September 20, 2022, to advocate for a child tax credit ahead of the White House meeting on hunger, nutrition and health.
Larry French | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
“If a US citizen is married to an undocumented immigrant, or if a citizen’s children have undocumented parents, the House bill considers a citizen to confiscate his right to the scope of the tax credit,” ITEP researchers Carl Davis and Sarah Austin wrote in a May analysis.
Beyond the child tax credits, these include existing tax credits such as the US Opportunity Tax Credit and Lifelong Learning Credit, as well as new benefits proposed by the law, from so-called Trump accounts to tips and tax credits for overtime, experts said.
Many immigrants are members of such mixed status families, Davis and Austin write.
Policy debate comes when the Trump administration is innately trying to end citizenship. This is a precedent that people born in US soils will automatically acquire citizenship at birth. The Supreme Court is expected to control policy soon.
According to the National Center for Immigration Law, the House bill also requires that all parents file joint tax returns if they are married and are seeking child tax credits.
This provision also affects non-immigrant households where married couples usually file separate tax returns, as happens when one spouse has substantial student loan liability or are victims of identity theft.
Tax on remittances
On April 8, 2024, a man is working on the streets to trade Tegucigalpa’s Lempiras (official Honduras currency). A quarter of the total GDP of these countries.
Orlando Sierra | AFP | Getty Images
Republicans will tax “remittances.” These are transfers of money, such as family and other overseas income.
Written in 2023, remittances are “fast-growing” and Dilip Ratha, the largest foreign income source for many developing countries, has become the World Bank’s lead economist in migration and remittances.
According to World Bank data last year, India, Mexico, China, China, the Philippines and Pakistan are the top five recipients of remittances worldwide. The US said it was the biggest source of global remittances in 2023.
The House and Senate bills will charge a 3.5% tax on remittances paid by senders.
Such taxes are in addition to the remittance fees that providers, such as banks and remittance services, already charge for sending money abroad electronically. Such charges are expensive and could possibly be over 10%, Ratha wrote.
There are some differences. For example, according to the National Center for Immigration Law, the House of Representatives will require this tax on all non-citizens, but the Senate will do so for those without a Social Security number. Others can request a tax credit for the taxes they pay on the remittance.
New fees for asylum and other applicants
The Senate and House bills add fees to immigrants who apply for asylum or interact with many other levers in the US immigration system.
According to the National Center for Immigration Law, fees, among other things, include:
The $1,000 application fee for exiles is protection that allows individuals to remain in the United States rather than being deported to a country that fears persecution or harm. (There are no current fees.) Asyles must pay at least $550 every six months to get approval for the job. (Current fees are not available.) Application fee of $500 for temporary protection status. (Current fees are $50, and an additional $30 for Biometrics.) A $5,000 fee for those determined to be the port of entry and unacceptable. (Currently there are no fees.)
These are minimum fees without exemptions, and the law provides for regular annual increases, according to the National Center for Immigration Law.
