Border Reclamation Trust Fund Act | C.A.T. Citizens Against Tyranny

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Statement of Purpose: Border Reclamation Trust Fund Act

The Border Reclamation Trust Fund Act is a financial fiduciary measure designed to establish fiscal accountability for the costs associated with mass unauthorized immigration and to relieve the burden currently borne entirely by the American taxpayer. This Act creates a dedicated, self-sustaining funding mechanism to cover the substantial operational costs of securing the border and removing unauthorized aliens from the United States.

I. Factual Basis and Economic Rationale

The Act is predicated on the finding that significant capital is transferred out of the U.S. economy annually by individuals who are neither citizens nor Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs). This exported capital represents an economic externality—money that is not reinvested domestically—while the presence of unauthorized individuals simultaneously imposes billions of dollars in remediation and enforcement costs on federal agencies.

The primary purpose is to establish a principle of financial contribution: that the transaction stream contributing to this fiscal imbalance should help pay for the government's mandatory enforcement response.

II. Fee Mechanism and Collection

The Act imposes a 15 percent (15%) reclamation fee on all outbound international money transfers and remittances initiated by non-citizens and non-LPRs.

Financial Fiduciary Charge: This charge is structured as a dedicated fee for the transaction, ensuring that funds derived from income earned in the U.S. that are leaving the national economy are subjected to a fee to offset the costs associated with the sender's non-LPR status.

Collection Mandate: All licensed money transmitters, financial institutions, and cryptocurrency exchanges are required to collect the fee at the point of transfer. The severe penalty provision in Section 4(c) underscores the absolute necessity of compliance for financial institutions operating within the U.S. market.

III. Exclusive Use of the Trust Fund

The core of the Act is Section 5: Border Reclamation Trust Fund, which removes the revenue entirely from the General Fund and prohibits its use for general government operations. The funds are strictly and mandatorily earmarked solely to defray the costs associated with illegal immigration, including:

Border Security and Infrastructure: Direct funding for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to construct, maintain, and upgrade physical and technological border security infrastructure.

Immigration Enforcement and Removal Operations (The "Clean-up Process"): Direct and immediate funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to cover all operational costs of interior enforcement, detention, and the physical removal of unauthorized aliens, including all associated transportation costs and chartered flights.

By creating this dedicated fund, the Act ensures that the financial resources generated by the reclamation fee are directly and exclusively applied to the specific enforcement and removal operations that relieve the financial burden on the American taxpayer.

🇺🇸 H.R. / S.

A Bill

To impose a reclamation fee on certain outbound international money transfers and remittances to secure the border and enhance immigration enforcement.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the "Border Reclamation Trust Fund Act."

SECTION 2. FISCAL BURDEN FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following regarding the direct and indirect costs imposed on U.S. taxpayers by the unauthorized alien population:

(1) The aggregate annual gross fiscal outlay imposed by the unauthorized alien population on U.S. taxpayers at the federal, state, and local level is approximately $113 billion.

(2) The net fiscal deficit (total costs minus total taxes paid) imposed by unlawful immigrant households totals approximately $54.5 billion per year.

(3) EDUCATION COSTS.—The annual cost of K-12 public education for the children of unauthorized aliens constitutes the single largest expenditure, totaling nearly $52 billion, with the bulk of those costs absorbed directly by State and local governments.

(4) FEDERAL ENFORCEMENT COSTS.—Direct federal enforcement expenditures alone exceed $29 billion annually, including approximately $19.6 billion for U.S. Customs and Border Protection and $9.6 billion for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Fiscal Year 2024.

(5) MEDICAL EXPENDITURES.—Federal medical expenditures attributable to this population, including uncompensated emergency hospital care, associated Medicaid costs, and the cost of the uninsured, total over $23.1 billion annually.

(6) This comprehensive fiscal reality necessitates the creation of a non-taxpayer funded mechanism to ensure that the stream of capital associated with unauthorized residency contributes directly to the costs of enforcement and remediation.

SECTION 3. REMITTANCE FINDINGS.

Congress finds that:

(1) Annually, between $80,000,000,000 and $120,000,000,000 is remitted out of the United States economy by undocumented aliens, equivalent to a daily transfer of between $330,000,000 and $490,000,000.

(2) Major destinations for these remittances include Mexico (estimated at $60,000,000,000), Central America (estimated at $20,000,000,000 to $25,000,000,000), and combined transfers to India and China (estimated at $15,000,000,000).

(3) These outbound transfers are 100 percent untaxed and represent capital that is never reinvested in the American economy, equaling an estimated annual loss of approximately 2.7 percent of the United States Gross Domestic Product.

(4) The imposition of a modest reclamation fee of 15 percent on outbound remittances would generate an estimated $12,000,000,000 to $18,000,000,000 in new Federal revenue annually without requiring new Federal spending.

SECTION 4. IMPOSITION OF RECLAMATION FEE.

(a) FEE IMPOSED.—A reclamation fee of fifteen percent (15%) shall be assessed and collected on all outbound international money transfers and remittances initiated from within the United States by or on behalf of persons who are neither citizens nor lawful permanent residents of the United States.

(b) APPLICABILITY.—The fee shall apply irrespective of the method of transfer, including, but not limited to, wire transfers, money transmission services, prepaid cards, cryptocurrency exchanges, and informal value-transfer systems.

> (1) Diplomatic transfers by foreign governments.

> (2) Verified humanitarian aid distributions by organizations registered under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

> (3) Transfers below $200 per transaction (subject to aggregate monthly limits to prevent circumvention).

SECTION 5. COLLECTION AND ENFORCEMENT.

(a) COLLECTION REQUIREMENT.—All licensed money transmitters, financial institutions, and cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the United States shall be responsible for collecting the fee imposed under Section 4 at the point of transfer and shall remit the collected amounts to the United States Treasury on a monthly basis.

(b) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall promulgate regulations within 180 days of the date of enactment of this Act to implement the necessary collection, reporting, and audit requirements.

> (1) by a civil penalty equal to 200 percent (200%) of the unremitted amount; and

> (2) may subject the responsible entity to the revocation of its money-transmitter license.

SECTION 6. BORDER RECLAMATION TRUST FUND.

(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF TRUST FUND.—There is established in the Treasury of the United States a trust fund to be known as the “Border Reclamation Trust Fund” (referred to in this section as the “Trust Fund”).

(b) TRANSFERS TO TRUST FUND.—All revenue generated by the reclamation fee imposed under Section 4 shall be deposited into the Trust Fund.

(c) MANDATORY USE OF TRUST FUND AMOUNTS.—Amounts in the Trust Fund shall be available, without further appropriation and shall remain available until expended, solely to defray the costs imposed upon the American people by illegal immigration and shall be allocated as follows:

> (1) BORDER SECURITY AND INFRASTRUCTURE.—Funding for the construction, maintenance, technological surveillance, and physical border infrastructure under the authority of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

> (2) IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT AND REMOVAL OPERATIONS.—Funding for personnel, detention facilities, operational costs associated with interior and border enforcement, and specifically for all costs associated with the detention and physical removal (including ground transport and chartered flights) of unauthorized aliens from the United States, under the authority of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

SECTION 7. ANTI-CIRCUMVENTION AND ENFORCEMENT MEASURES.

(a) MANDATORY ENFORCEMENT OF EXEMPTION LIMITS.—The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), shall establish and enforce strict aggregate monthly limits on transactions exempted under Section 4(c)(3) to prevent the subdivision of large transfers ("smurfing") and shall require detailed Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) for any sender exceeding the established limit.

(b) ELIMINATION OF ILLEGAL TRANSFER NETWORKS.—The Trust Fund shall provide dedicated funding for FinCEN and the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively investigate, dismantle, and criminally prosecute Informal Value Transfer Systems (IVTS), unlicensed Money Service Businesses (MSBs), and peer-to-peer cryptocurrency platforms utilized for the explicit purpose of evading Federal law and the reclamation fee imposed by this Act.

(c) THIRD-PARTY SENDER ACCOUNTABILITY.—Any U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident found by the Secretary of the Treasury or the Secretary of Homeland Security to have willfully acted on behalf of a non-exempt individual to evade the fee imposed under Section 4 shall be subject to a civil penalty equal to the unremitted fee amount and may be subject to audit of their full transfer history for the preceding five years.

SECTION 8. EFFECTIVE DATE.

This Act shall take effect 270 days after the date of enactment.

SECTION 9. SEVERABILITY.

If any provision of this Act, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the remainder of the Act and the application of such provision to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.