Buried deep in the more than 2,100 page long “Build Back Better” act is a poison pill that will turn out to be a serious boon for illegal aliens if it’s passed. Despite objections having been raised to the plan before, one element of the bill would alter the federal tax code by removing the existing requirement for anyone applying for the federal child tax credit to provide the Social Security Number of the child in question. While children born to illegal aliens inside the United States would already qualify, this change means that children brought into the country illegally would also be able to be listed. The BBB Act also includes a provision that would raise the amount of the tax credit offered per child from its current level of $2,000 to $3,600 for children under six years of age and $3,300 for children ages six to seventeen. Considering how many unaccompanied minors have been released into the interior of the United States in just the past year, this must come as excellent news to open borders advocates. (Daily Wire)

The Build Back Better Act, the massive $1.75 trillion social spending package working its way through the House of Representatives, contains a provision that would remove the Social Security number requirement for the Child Tax Credit.

The provision, which can be found on page 1,647 of the 2,135-page bill, would amend the federal tax code by removing the provision which requires that a child have a valid Social Security number in order to be eligible for any and all tax credits.

“No credit shall be allowed under this section to a taxpayer with respect to any qualifying child unless the taxpayer includes the social security number of such child on the return of tax for the taxable year,” the current law reads. Removing this requirement would open the eligibility for the credit to parents of children without social security numbers, including, potentially, illegal immigrant children.

It has been pointed out by supporters of the plan that this change would also benefit families of children who are legal citizens by birth but who don’t have a Social Security number yet. But how many children really fall into that category in the modern era? Back when I was a child, it wasn’t uncommon for parents to not bother getting a SSN for their children immediately since there was no pressing need for it. But these days, it’s pretty much automatic, isn’t it? All you need is a birth certificate and you can obtain your child’s SSN pretty much immediately.

The linked report quotes researcher Steven Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies saying that it’s currently estimated that American taxpayers will shell out somewhere in excess of $2.3 billion to the parents of children who are in the country illegally. Camarota also notes that just in fiscal year 2021, 600,000 unaccompanied minors and minors in family units were intercepted at the border by immigration officials and later released. Assuming they have any sort of social workers advising them of all of these new options, that’s going to add up to more than two billion dollars right there if all of their parents or guardians apply for the credit.

There’s another change in that section of the bill that we should also be aware of. The BBB Act would remove the work requirement currently needed for the child tax credit. That means that any illegal aliens who can’t demonstrate that they had any income in the previous year, either because they didn’t work or worked off the books (and hence didn’t pay any taxes), will still be able to qualify for this “tax credit.”

What all of this boils down to is something that’s been on the liberal wish list for a very long time now. This would essentially be a guaranteed basic income for illegal immigrants without specifically giving it that name. For example, a family of illegal migrants with four children, ages 3, 5, 7, and 9 would immediately qualify for nearly $14,000 from Uncle Sam. That’s not going to make anyone rich, but there are no doubt a lot of lower-income families out there who are living in the country legally who would probably love to get that kind of a payday from the government.