The Trump administration hopes to restrict non-U.S. citizens from accessing federal welfare benefits and programs through a broad set of provisions in its “one big, beautiful bill.”

The bill passed the House in late May and is now headed to the Senate, where it is expected to be voted on before the August recess.

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Inside the reconciliation bill, Republicans have included a plethora of mechanisms that would ensure illegal immigrants cannot obtain money or benefits available to citizens.

The Trump administration has promised to crack down on what it views as a “waste of hard-earned taxpayer resources” by going after any federal dollars used by immigrants illegally in the country.

The bill seeks to rein in federal spending to states that provide state-funded health insurance to illegal immigrants, roughly 1.4 million individuals, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis.

However, this proposal has been misrepresented by Republicans, including President Donald Trump, who publicly stated that the proposal itself would take illegal immigrants off Medicaid. On May 16, Trump wrote on Truth Social that the OBBB “will kick millions of Illegal Aliens off of Medicaid.”

Illegal immigrants are inherently not allowed to obtain Medicaid other than for emergency services, but states receive some federal reimbursement for state expenditures, which would be affected.

The bill would only reimburse states for 80% of expenses rather than 90% of costs when states use their own funds to provide health coverage and financial assistance for illegal immigrants’ health insurance coverage.

While the bill would boost the child tax credit to as much as $2,500 per child, it would only be available to adults with Social Security numbers in certain cases.

If the bill passes, parents who use an individual taxpayer identification number will no longer be able to seek a child tax credit. According to the American Prospect, roughly 4.5 million children who have a parent with a Social Security number who also pays taxes with a tax identification number would be ineligible.

House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) endorsed the measure.

“Millions of illegal immigrants let in by [former President] Joe Biden will finally no longer be eligible for refundable tax credits and will start paying the American taxpayer back,” Smith said in a statement last week.

The massive budget bill also included language to impose a 3.5% tax on remittances sent out of the country by any non-U.S. citizen.

For years, immigrants in the United States have sent money to loved ones back home through commercial wire service companies.

In 2024, U.S. remitters sent $64 billion to Mexico. If last year’s remittances continued this year, the U.S. government would earn roughly $2 billion in taxes.

The Trump administration originally proposed a 5% tax, but dropped it slightly.

Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement on May 16 that it would “pursue the strongest political and legal defense” against the bill’s remittance language, according to a translation of the Spanish-language statement.

If the bill is passed over the Affordable Care Act Marketplace, eligibility restrictions would be imposed on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients. The Obama administration’s ACA did not originally apply to DACA recipients, that is, illegal immigrants who first entered the country as children but now have temporary status to remain in the country.

The Biden administration had attempted to expand Marketplace eligibility to 100,000 uninsured DACA recipients last year, but this bill would designate “lawfully present” individuals, or DACA recipients, as ineligible going forward.

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Fifth, many lawfully present immigrants who may have initially illegally entered the country would become ineligible for Medicare. Right now, Medicare is used by 68.5 million people in the U.S.

Going forward, Medicare eligibility would be rescinded for Lawful Permanent Residents, select Cuban immigrants, and others.