Illegal Immigrants Would Get $10.5 Billion From Reconciliation Bill

Illegal Immigrants are loaded onto a bus by U.S. Border Patrol agents after being detained when they crossed into the United States from Mexico, in El Paso, Texas, on June 1, 2019. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Commentary

The budget reconciliation package pushed by Democrats creates a new expanded child tax credit (CTC) that would pay illegal immigrants some $10.5 billion next year. All immigrants with children are eligible, regardless of how they got here and whether their children are U.S.-born. This includes the roughly 600,000 unaccompanied minors and persons in family units stopped at the border in FY2021 and released into the country pending a hearing. Cash welfare to illegal immigrants is not just costly; it also encourages more illegal immigration.