Beneath the gleaming name of Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” lies a ruthless blueprint for starving, separating and silencing the most vulnerable children.
One of the many dangers of the budget reconciliation package currently before the Senate, which Trump is calling the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” is its audacity. It is so large, so ugly and so expensive—nothing beautiful to see here—that it can be hard to know how to fight back. So much is at risk that, even assuming some of the most talked-about measures, such as Medicaid cuts, are removed or modified in the Senate, it is likely that passage of This Ugliest of Bills (THUG Bill) would still fundamentally harm millions of people.
Children—citizen and non-citizen—are going to be especially hard hit if this ugliest of bills passes. Focusing on their well-being and demanding their protection is one avenue for showing support across multiple issue areas and ideologies.
This ugliest of bills disproportionately affects children, according to First Focus Campaign for Children. Three of the major programs serving children—Medicaid, the Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—are slated for $1 trillion in cuts. Fourteen million children rely on Medicaid and SNAP for their basic health and nutrition needs.
The THUG Bill puts their well-being at risk.
It targets tax credits that help low-income families and slips in major policy changes such as new work requirements for SNAP recipients.
It penalizes U.S. citizen children with immigrant parents by eliminating eligibility for child income tax credits if one parent is here unlawfully.
It penalizes states for providing state health insurance to immigrant families.
It increases funding to ICE by nearly $80 billion, allowing for mass raids and family separations, incidents which can scar children for life.
Ugliest of all, the THUG Bill sets the stage for exploitation and abuse of immigrant kids by using fines, funding cuts and funding restrictions to gut measures that protect unaccompanied children in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.
In a general swipe at asylum seekers, this ugliest of bills imposes a $1,000, non-waivable fee to apply for asylum, regardless of age or circumstances, and levies another $550 every six months for employment authorization. It restricts eligibility to visas for abused, abandoned or neglected children. It penalizes kids who are found between ports of entry, charging them $1,000 just for being in the U.S.
It imposes a $3,500 sponsorship fee, and an additional $5,000 bond on parents or other sponsors trying to get their kids out of government custody.
Altogether, this ugliest of bills would cost an unaccompanied child and their family $15,000 just to have a chance at reunification and protection, according to estimates from Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), an unaccompanied children’s advocacy group.
The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights and other advocacy groups recently warned senators about the dangers of these provisions in a letter outlining the range of harms children face if this ugliest of bills is passed.
Jennifer Nagda of the Young Center summarized these concerns:
“The reconciliation bill is an attack on all children *and* a blueprint for expanded family separation. In addition to devastating cuts to Medicaid and SNAP and unnecessary limits to the Child Tax credit, the bill would use fines and family surveillance to prevent most unaccompanied children from applying for humanitarian protections allowed under U.S. laws. Among other grotesque provisions, the bill would prevent children from living with families and trusted caregivers simply because those families are living paycheck to paycheck and would allow government officials to examine children’s bodies in search of tattoos.”
That’s right, while funding for vital services to children is gutted, the THUG Bill allocates funds specifically for DHS and HHS to examine children over 12 for signs of gang tattoos. It also weakens screening standards and authorizes CBP agents to determine whether all unaccompanied children face trafficking or other harms, allowing them to turn kids away without ever seeing a judge. Presumably, body inspection would become part of that assessment.
It can’t be overstated how much the House used its budget authority to undermine existing laws that protect children.
Jason Boyd, vice president for federal affairs at KIND, told Ms.:
“The reconciliation bill is a giant leap backwards for child safety. Congress previously decided, on a sweeping bipartisan basis, that unaccompanied children need protection from trafficking. Eliminating these safeguards would thrust our nation back to an era where children were summarily returned into the hands of human traffickers and other bad actors.”
Rather than protect children, Boyd says the bill will have the opposite effect, creating new opportunities for exploitation.
At a minimum, those children who do make it through the labyrinth of new requirements are likely to remain in custody indefinitely, with few prospects for legal or other assistance. The pressure to give up and go home will be enormous, particularly because even asking a judge for a continuance to find a lawyer would cost $100 under the new scheme.
This ugliest of bills is a vendetta against all children. It goes after the most vulnerable of the vulnerable—unaccompanied children—because lawmakers think they can attack this population with no political backlash. That’s why it is critical to tell the Senate to protect children and reject those provisions that harm them.
Children are children first. They should be fed and cared for, regardless of their immigration status. If we can’t stand up for that simple principle, the ugliness of the reconciliation package will shame us all.
Contact your senators today and demand that they protect all children, including unaccompanied children.
