As the House of Representatives debates the 'big, beautiful bill, experts say a provision taxing remittances sent to other countries could have a major impact on immigration into the U.S. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images and Getty)
Besides generating extra revenue, Lora Ries, director of the Border Security and Immigration Center at The Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital that the remittance tax has the potential to discourage illegal immigration into the U.S. by making it harder to send money back home.
"Illegal aliens generally want five things when coming to the U.S.: to enter, to remain here, work, send money home (remittances), and bring family and/or have children here," she explained. "Prevent those five things, and you prevent illegal immigration and encourage self-deportation."
The administration has been pushing hard for illegal immigrants to self-deport, incentivizing them by offering to front the cost of commercial flights and providing a $1,000 stipend to those who opt to self-deport. Ries said the remittance tax could be another effective strategy besides ICE raids that could help to crack down on illegal immigration into the country and reduce the number of illegal immigrants in the U.S.
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A family of five claiming to be from Guatemala and a man stating he was from Peru, in pink shirt, walk through the desert after crossing the border wall in the Tucson Sector of the U.S.-Mexico border, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument near Lukeville, Arizona. (Matt York/AP Photo)
Meanwhile, Ariel Ruiz Soto, a senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, told Fox News Digital that though he believes the remittance tax will have a significant impact, it may not be in the way the Trump administration hopes.
He argued that discouraging remittances to countries like El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras — where such payments account for more than 20% of the GDP — could actually drive more migration from those nations.
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"If you're Honduras, if you're El Salvador and Guatemala, even a 1% tax, if it decreases the remittances, could actually be a significant toll in the development of those countries," he said. "If the remains were actually to decrease significantly, that could potentially backfire on President Trump's agenda to reduce irregular migration because he could actually make circumstances, economic circumstances in these countries more difficult and spur new irregular immigration in the future."
The House of Representatives is currently considering the Senate’s version of the "big, beautiful bill."
Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/remittance-tax-one-big-beautiful-bill-can-further-discourage-illegal-immigration-says-expert