WASHINGTON — A comment submitted Monday urges the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to withdraw a regulatory proposal that would drive up child poverty among the ¼ of children living in immigrant families. The Trump administration has proposed to deny three federal tax credits to lawfully present immigrants and U.S. citizens – mostly children – in immigrant families. The comment was submitted by the Protecting Immigrant Families coalition (PIF), UnidosUS, and the Children Thrive Action Network (CTAN) and cosigned by 189 organizations across the country. National organizations co-signing the comment include the American Academy of Pediatrics, First Focus on Children, and Share Our Strength.
“Families all over the country are struggling to stay afloat in a Trump economy defined by rising prices and falling hopes, and the administration’s response is to make it harder for hardworking families to feed their kids,” said PIF Policy and Advocacy Director Maddie Geschu. “And turning tax forms into ICE checkpoints does nothing but deter immigrant families from filing tax returns. This is not what the American people want, and it’s long past time to rein in the Trump administration’s reckless, relentless attacks on immigrant families.”
The proposal concerns tax refunds issued under the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), the Child Tax Credit (CTC), and the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC). The AOTC offsets the cost of tuition, books and other expenses for college students. The EITC and CTC are two of the most effective federal child poverty mitigation initiatives, which together lifted 3.7 million children out of poverty in 2024.
“For decades, refundable tax credits have helped to make work pay, reduce poverty, and improve the economic lives of hard-working families with children,” said Lisette Orellana Engel, director, economic policy project at UnidosUS. “Workers claiming these credits are paying taxes, pursuing higher education, and investing in their futures. Congress designed the Child Tax Credit, Earned Income Tax Credit, and American Opportunity Tax Credit to strengthen economic mobility. This proposal would undercut those goals, raise the cost of living for many families that rely on the credits, make life harder for many lawfully present immigrants and mixed-status families, including families raising U.S. citizen children. Support the workers who are strengthening our economy and stop this proposal.”
The proposal would also require all taxpayers – U.S. citizen and noncitizen alike – to attest under penalty of perjury that they hold a qualified immigration status. This is the first time the IRS has required immigration status information on tax forms.
“Children in immigrant families, including U.S. citizen children, would pay the price for these harmful new restrictions. Tax credits like the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit help families afford food, housing, and other basic needs that ultimately support children’s healthy development. Government policies should help children thrive, not take away resources their families rely on,” said Wendy Cervantes, director of the immigration and immigrant families at the Center for Law and Social Policy and director of the Children Thrive Action Network (CTAN). “Treasury should withdraw this cruel and misguided proposal.”
The proposal would restrict eligibility to “qualified” immigrants, as defined under a 30-year-old budget law. People holding other lawful immigration statuses would be denied, including people with special visas issued to crime or human trafficking survivors who cooperate with law enforcement in the prosecution of the perpetrators of those crimes, as well as the millions of U.S. citizen children whose parents hold those statuses or are undocumented. A March 2026 poll found that 83% of Americans want lawfully present immigrants to be able to get care and help when they need it.
“The proposed rule would significantly harm children in immigrant families, including U.S. citizen children in mixed-status families, by reducing the resources available to their families to meet basic needs,” the comment reads.
