Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced new regulations to clarify existing federal law and prevent illegal aliens from collecting government benefits. Bessent wrote on X: “Under @POTUS, the days of illegal aliens collecting taxpayer-funded benefits are over. The federal law is clear, and @USTreasury is enforcing it. American taxpayers should not be forced to foot the bill for benefits going to those who are barred by law from receiving them. These proposed regulations end the abuse, protect the integrity of the tax system, and put Americans first.”
These new policies are crucial to the Trump administration plan to reclaim our nation from the massive inflow of illegal aliens under Joe Biden.
Specifically, the newly proposed regulations from the Trump administration aim to clarify enforcement of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA). That 1996 statute signed into law by President Bill Clinton established that only U.S. citizens and qualified legal aliens are eligible to receive federal public benefits.
The new regulations clarify that four kinds of tax refunds are indeed “federal public benefits,” which means illegal aliens are ineligible to receive them. The credits are: the adoption tax credit, the child tax credit, the American opportunity tax credit, and the earned income tax credit. All of these can be claimed by individual American citizens or qualified legal, taxpaying aliens, but the Treasury Department and IRS aim to block illegal aliens from receiving these tax refunds.
If these regulations go into effect following the legally mandated notice-and-comment process, illegal aliens in the United States will be prevented from receiving these credits but also would be liable for perjury if they seek to dishonestly claim these credits.
Reviving Enforcement of Existing Laws
These regulations are the latest move in an ongoing campaign by the Trump administration, particularly Treasury Secretary Bessent, to close loopholes that allowed illegal aliens to exploit our benefits and financial system. President Trump’s February 19, 2025 executive order, “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders,” instructed the heads of all executive departments and agencies to identify all federally funded programs enabling illegal aliens to obtain benefits and then curtail them consistent with applicable laws.
On May 19, Trump issued executive order “Restoring Integrity to America’s Financial System.” This instructed federal financial regulators to scrutinize money transfers funding cartels and human trafficking, to investigate and curtail illegal methods of paying illegal aliens and opening accounts, and to designate illegal aliens as a lending risk for banks. Collectively, this push to “debank” illegal aliens and those employing them is a long overdue step in the battle against rampant illegal immigration.
The Trump administration can use plenty of existing laws to debank and deport illegals. As usual, many federal laws have been insufficiently enforced, and the federal and state governments have been complicit in allowing the corruption and abuse of government benefits and the employment of illegal aliens, at the expense of American citizens.
Through regulations, the Trump administration can clarify existing laws and give vital instructions reinstating enforcement. By relying on existing laws, the Trump administration can also skirt scrutiny from the activist judiciary as much as possible.
While the proposed regulations are aimed at deterring illegal aliens, they also clarify existing laws to curb the admission of legal immigrants who seek to rely on public benefits. Just recently the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency within the Department of Homeland Security issued guidance on how they intend to enforce the “public charge rule,” a long-standing but insufficiently clarified feature of U.S. immigration law rendering aliens inadmissible if they are likely to become a public charge.
USCIS clarified its officers will now take into account the potential immigrant’s “likelihood at any time of becoming a public charge, including the alien’s receipt of means-tested public benefits, such as cash assistance for income maintenance, housing assistance, food stamps, financial aid for college, or any other similar benefit.” This is hopefully another key strategy to curb legal immigration that is likely to burden taxpayers.
A Multi-Pronged Strategy
To reclaim our nation from massive illegal residency, forcible arrests and deportations are necessary. The Trump administration continues to excel in this regard, hitting successive record months of arrests and deportation removal flights.
However, it will be very difficult to arrest, detain, and deport tens of millions of illegal aliens, so the Trump administration is prudently pursuing efficient, comprehensive ways to disincentivize illegal aliens from continued residency. Under President Trump, the border remains secure, but regulations aimed at curtailing illegal aliens’ access to public benefits are essential to incentivize self-deportation. We are witnessing a well-coordinated, multi-pronged strategy targeting illegal aliens. It includes the threat of arrest and deportation, the curtailing of public benefits, and small financial incentives to self-deport.
All of these prongs are necessary, given the magnitude of our problem. We cannot rely on one strategy only, but must employ every legal means to reverse illegal immigration.
