# Border Security Investment Act: What It Actually Does

This bill creates a new fee on money transfers sent to certain countries and uses that money to fund border security efforts. Specifically, it would impose a 37 percent fee on remittance transfers—money that people send to family and friends in other countries—but only to the five countries that send the most people illegally crossing into the United States each year. So if you're sending money to relatives abroad through a money transfer service, and that country happens to be one of the top five sources of illegal border crossings, you'd pay an extra 37 percent on top of whatever you're already sending. That's a significant increase on top of existing transfer fees.

The money collected from these new fees gets split into two separate accounts. Half goes to a "Border Security State Reimbursement Trust Fund" that reimburses states along the southern border for their border security expenses—things like deploying National Guard troops or local law enforcement operations. States would need to submit receipts showing what they spent on border-related activities to get reimbursed. The other half goes to a "Border Security Trust Fund" that the Department of Homeland Security can use directly for technology to detect illegal crossings, physical barriers like walls, and paying Border Patrol agents' salaries.

The practical impact is straightforward: people sending money internationally to certain countries would face a substantial new tax-like fee, while the revenue generated would fund border security operations. The bill caps the total amount in both trust funds at $50 billion combined; anything beyond that gets returned to the general Treasury for deficit reduction. This approach essentially finances border security by taxing remittance transfers to specific countries, which means the cost falls primarily on immigrants and people with family ties to those nations.

Border Security Investment Act

Moran, Nathaniel

Border Security Investment Act This bill imposes a fee on remittances sent to certain countries and provides funding for border security activities from the collected amounts. Specifically, the fee shall apply to remittances sent to one of the five countries that had the most citizens or nationals unlawfully enter the United States in the previous fiscal year, as determined by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The fee must be 37% of the amount sent. Half of the money collected by the fee must be placed in a trust fund for reimbursing border states for expenses incurred for border security enforcement measures. The other half must be placed in another trust fund for (1) deploying technology and installing physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border, and (2) paying the wages and salaries of U.S. Border Patrol agents. If the amount in the trust funds exceeds a certain threshold, the excess money must be used only for deficit reduction.