Millions of immigrant families would be shut out under new child tax credit proposal

Marissa Martinez

Economy Reporter

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Republicans would raise the child tax credit to $2,500 per eligible child in the tax-writing committee’s latest proposal. But the bill would also exclude millions of families from accessing the credit, including the country’s poorest households and immigrant or mixed-status families.

One provision of the bill requires a child’s parent or parents to have a Social Security Number, shutting out undocumented immigrants or those without work authorization, even when the child themselves has a Social Security Number. In mixed-status households, where one parent has a Social Security Number and the other doesn’t, the child is still ineligible.

Some estimates show this change could impact 4.5 million child