II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 293
To appropriate $25,000,000,000 for the construction of a border wall between
the United States and Mexico, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY29, 2025
Mrs. B
RITT(for herself, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. RISCH, Mr. BARRASSO, Mr. ROUNDS,
and Mr. W
ICKER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Finance
A BILL
To appropriate $25,000,000,000 for the construction of a
border wall between the United States and Mexico, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘WALL Act of 2025’’. 4
SEC. 2. MANDATORY SPENDING FOR BORDER WALL. 5
(a) I
NGENERAL.—There is appropriated 6
$25,000,000,000 for the purpose of constructing a phys-7
ical barrier along the southern land border of the United 8
States. 9
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(b) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated under 1
subsection (a) shall remain available until expended for 2
the purpose described in subsection (a). 3
SEC. 3. OFFSETS. 4
(a) E
LIGIBILITY FORCHILDTAXCREDIT.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 24(e) of the Internal 6
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as fol-7
lows: 8
‘‘(e) I
DENTIFICATIONREQUIREMENTS.— 9
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—No credit shall be allowed 10
under this section to a taxpayer with respect to any 11
qualifying child unless the taxpayer includes on the 12
return of tax for the taxable year— 13
‘‘(A) the name of such qualifying child, 14
and 15
‘‘(B) the valid identification number of the 16
taxpayer (and, in the case of a joint return, the 17
taxpayer’s spouse) and such qualifying child. 18
‘‘(2) V
ALID IDENTIFICATION NUMBER .— 19
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—For purposes of this 20
subsection, the term ‘valid identification num-21
ber’ means— 22
‘‘(i) in the case of the taxpayer and 23
any spouse of the taxpayer, a social secu-24
rity number issued to the individual by the 25
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Social Security Administration on or before 1
the due date for filing the return for the 2
taxable year, and 3
‘‘(ii) in the case of a qualifying child, 4
a social security number issued to such 5
child by the Social Security Administration 6
on or before the due date for filing such 7
return. 8
‘‘(B) E
XCEPTION FOR INDIVIDUALS PRO -9
HIBITED FROM ENGAGING IN EMPLOYMENT IN 10
UNITED STATES.—For purposes of subpara-11
graph (A)(i) and subsection (h)(4)(C), the term 12
‘social security number’ shall not include the so-13
cial security number of an individual who is 14
prohibited from engaging in employment in the 15
United States.’’. 16
(2) C
ONFORMING AMENDMENTS .—Subsection 17
(h) of section 24 of the Internal Revenue Code of 18
1986 is amended— 19
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘(7)’’ 20
and inserting ‘‘(6)’’, 21
(B) in paragraph (4), by amending sub-22
paragraph (C) to read as follows: 23
‘‘(C) S
OCIAL SECURITY NUMBER RE -24
QUIRED.—Subparagraph (A) shall not apply 25
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with respect to any dependent of the taxpayer 1
unless the taxpayer includes on the return of 2
tax for the taxable year, for both the taxpayer 3
and the dependent, a social security number 4
issued to each such individual by the Social Se-5
curity Administration on or before the due date 6
for filing such return.’’, and 7
(C) by striking paragraph (7). 8
(3) E
FFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 9
by this subsection shall apply to taxable years end-10
ing after the date of the enactment of this Act. 11
(b) I
NDIVIDUALSPROHIBITEDFROMENGAGING IN 12
E
MPLOYMENT IN UNITEDSTATESNOTELIGIBLE FOR 13
E
ARNEDINCOMETAXCREDIT.— 14
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subsection (m) of section 32 15
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to 16
read as follows: 17
‘‘(m) I
DENTIFICATIONNUMBERS.— 18
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Solely for purposes of sub-19
sections (c)(1)(E) and (c)(3)(D), a taxpayer identi-20
fication number means a social security number 21
issued to an individual by the Social Security Ad-22
ministration on or before the due date for filing the 23
return for the taxable year. 24
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‘‘(2) EXCEPTION FOR INDIVIDUALS PROHIB -1
ITED FROM ENGAGING IN EMPLOYMENT IN UNITED 2
STATES.—For purposes of paragraph (1), in the 3
case of subsection (c)(1)(E), the term ‘social security 4
number’ shall not include the social security number 5
of an individual who is prohibited from engaging in 6
employment in the United States.’’. 7
(2) E
FFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made 8
by this subsection shall apply to taxable years end-9
ing after the date of the enactment of this Act. 10
(c) I
DENTIFICATIONREQUIREMENT FOR AMERICAN 11
O
PPORTUNITY ANDLIFETIMELEARNINGCREDITS.— 12
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 25A(g)(1) of the In-13
ternal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding 14
at the end the following new subparagraph: 15
‘‘(C) S
OCIAL SECURITY NUMBER RE -16
QUIRED.— 17
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—For purposes of 18
this paragraph, the term ‘taxpayer identi-19
fication number’ means a social security 20
number issued to an individual by the So-21
cial Security Administration. 22
‘‘(ii) E
XCEPTION FOR INDIVIDUALS 23
PROHIBITED FROM ENGAGING IN EMPLOY -24
MENT IN UNITED STATES .—For purposes 25
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of clause (i), the term ‘social security num-1
ber’ shall not include the social security 2
number of an individual who is prohibited 3
from engaging in employment in the 4
United States.’’. 5
(2) E
FFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made 6
by this subsection shall apply to all taxable years 7
ending after the date of the enactment of this Act. 8
(d) F
EES FORFILING ATAXRETURNUSING AN 9
ITIN.— 10
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 6109(i) of the Inter-11
nal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at 12
the end the following new paragraph: 13
‘‘(5) F
EE FOR FILING TAX RETURN USING AN 14
ITIN.— 15
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—In the case of any in-16
dividual income tax return filed by a taxpayer 17
residing in the United States, the Secretary 18
shall require the taxpayer to pay a fee for each 19
such return filed in an amount equal to the 20
product of— 21
‘‘(i) the total number of individuals 22
included on such return (including any 23
spouse or dependent of the taxpayer) with 24
respect to whom an individual taxpayer 25
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identification number has been issued, 1
multiplied by 2
‘‘(ii) $300. 3
‘‘(B) E
XCEPTION.—Subparagraph (A) 4
shall not apply to any individual who has re-5
ported to the Secretary that their social security 6
number has been subject to theft, misuse, or 7
misappropriation by another person.’’. 8
(2) E
FFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made 9
by this subsection shall apply to returns the due 10
date for which (determined without regard to exten-11
sions) is after the date of the enactment of this Act. 12
(e) E
NSURINGVALIDITY OFSOCIALSECURITYNUM-13
BERS.— 14
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 6109 of the Internal 15
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after 16
subsection (d) the following new subsection: 17
‘‘(e) C
ONFIRMATION OF SOCIALSECURITYNUM-18
BERS.—For purposes of paragraphs (1) and (3) of sub-19
section (a), the Secretary, in coordination with the Com-20
missioner of Social Security, shall verify that any social 21
security account number submitted by a person, or with 22
respect to another person, in any return, statement, or 23
other document is— 24
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‘‘(1) the correct social security account number 1
as issued to such person by the Commissioner of So-2
cial Security, and 3
‘‘(2) valid and otherwise unexpired as of the 4
date of submission of such return, statement, or 5
other document.’’. 6
(2) E
FFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made 7
by this subsection shall apply to returns, statements, 8
and other documents submitted after the date of the 9
enactment of this Act. 10
(f) R
EQUIRINGAGENCIESTOUSEE-VERIFYTO 11
C
ONFIRMSATISFACTORYIMMIGRATIONSTATUS FORELI-12
GIBILITY FORCERTAINFEDERALLYFUNDEDBENE-13
FITS.— 14
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 1137(a) of the So-15
cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320b–7(a)) is amend-16
ed— 17
(A) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 18
and inserting a semicolon; 19
(B) in paragraph (7), by striking the pe-20
riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 21
(C) by adding at the end the following: 22
‘‘(8) with respect to any applicant for, or recipi-23
ent of, benefits under a program listed in subsection 24
(b) who is a noncitizen and whose eligibility for such 25
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benefits is conditional upon such applicant or recipi-1
ent having an immigration status that allows the ap-2
plicant or recipient to work in the United States, the 3
State agency administering such program shall use 4
the employment eligibility confirmation program de-5
scribed in section 403(a) of the Illegal Immigration 6
Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 7
(8 U.S.C. 1324a note) (also known as ‘E–Verify’) to 8
confirm that such applicant or recipient has such 9
status, and shall deny eligibility for such benefits to 10
any such applicant or recipient who does not have 11
such status.’’. 12
(2) F
EDERAL HOUSING PROGRAMS .— 13
(A) Section 8(o)(6) of the United States 14
Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)(6)) is 15
amended by adding at the end the following: 16
‘‘(D) V
ERIFICATION OF IMMIGRATION STA -17
TUS.—For each dwelling unit for which a hous-18
ing assistance payment contract is established 19
under this subsection, the public housing agen-20
cy shall, with respect to any prospective tenant 21
of the dwelling unit who is a noncitizen and 22
whose eligibility for assistance is conditional 23
upon the tenant having an immigration status 24
that allows the tenant to work in the United 25
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States, use the employment eligibility confirma-1
tion program described in section 403(a) of the 2
Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Re-3
sponsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1324a note) 4
(commonly known as ‘E–Verify’) to confirm 5
that the tenant has such status and shall deny 6
eligibility for such assistance to any tenant who 7
does not have such status.’’. 8
(B) Section 8(o)(13) of the United States 9
Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)(13)) 10
is amended by adding at the end the following: 11
‘‘(P) V
ERIFICATION OF IMMIGRATION STA -12
TUS.—For each dwelling unit in a project for 13
which a housing assistance payment contract is 14
established under this subsection, the public 15
housing agency shall, with respect to any pro-16
spective tenant of the dwelling unit who is a 17
noncitizen and whose eligibility for assistance is 18
conditional upon the tenant having an immigra-19
tion status that allows the tenant to work in the 20
United States, use the employment eligibility 21
confirmation program described in section 22
403(a) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and 23
Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 24
1324a note) (commonly known as ‘E–Verify’) 25
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to confirm that the tenant has such status and 1
shall deny eligibility for such assistance to any 2
tenant who does not have such status.’’. 3
(C) Section 3(a) of the United States 4
Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(a)) is 5
amended by adding at the end the following: 6
‘‘(10) V
ERIFICATION OF IMMIGRATION STA -7
TUS.—For each public housing dwelling unit owned, 8
assisted, or operated by a public housing agency, the 9
public housing agency shall, with respect to any pro-10
spective tenant of the dwelling unit who is a noncit-11
izen and whose eligibility for assistance is condi-12
tional upon the tenant having an immigration status 13
that allows the tenant to work in the United States, 14
use the employment eligibility confirmation program 15
described in section 403(a) of the Illegal Immigra-16
tion Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 17
1996 (8 U.S.C. 1324a note) (commonly known as 18
‘E–Verify’) to confirm that the tenant has such sta-19
tus and shall deny eligibility for such assistance to 20
any tenant who does not have such status.’’. 21
(D) Section 202(i) of the Housing Act of 22
1959 (12 U.S.C. 1701q(i)) is amended by add-23
ing at the end the following: 24
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‘‘(3) VERIFICATION OF IMMIGRATION STA -1
TUS.—For each dwelling unit assisted under this 2
section, the owner shall, with respect to any prospec-3
tive tenant of the dwelling unit who is a noncitizen 4
and whose eligibility for assistance is conditional 5
upon the tenant having an immigration status that 6
allows the tenant to work in the United States, use 7
the employment eligibility confirmation program de-8
scribed in section 403(a) of the Illegal Immigration 9
Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 10
(8 U.S.C. 1324a note) (commonly known as ‘E– 11
Verify’) to confirm that the tenant has such status 12
and shall deny eligibility for such assistance to any 13
tenant who does not have such status.’’. 14
(E) Section 811(i)(1) of the Cranston-Gon-15
zalez National Affordable Housing Act (42 16
U.S.C. 8013(i)(1)) is amended by adding at the 17
end the following: 18
‘‘(E) V
ERIFICATION OF IMMIGRATION STA -19
TUS.—For each dwelling unit assisted under 20
this section, the owner shall, with respect to 21
any prospective tenant of the dwelling unit who 22
is a noncitizen and whose eligibility for assist-23
ance is conditional upon the tenant having an 24
immigration status that allows the tenant to 25
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work in the United States, use the employment 1
eligibility confirmation program described in 2
section 403(a) of the Illegal Immigration Re-3
form and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 4
(8 U.S.C. 1324a note) (commonly known as 5
‘E–Verify’) to confirm that the tenant has such 6
status and shall deny eligibility for such assist-7
ance to any tenant who does not have such sta-8
tus.’’. 9
(3) R
ULEMAKING.— 10
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agri-11
culture, the Secretary of Health and Human 12
Services, and the Secretary of Labor shall pro-13
mulgate rules to implement section 1137(a)(8) 14
of the Social Security Act, as added by para-15
graph (1), which requires the use of E–Verify 16
to verify applicant eligibility for certain pro-17
grams administered by their respective depart-18
ments. 19
(B) H
OUSING PROGRAMS.—The Secretary 20
of Housing and Urban Development shall pro-21
mulgate rules to implement amendments made 22
by subparagraphs (A) through (E) of para-23
graph (2), which require the use of E–Verify to 24
verify tenant eligibility for housing assistance 25
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programs administered by the Department of 1
Housing and Urban Development. 2
(4) E
FFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 3
by this subsection shall take effect on the date of en-4
actment of this Act. 5
SEC. 4. MINIMUM FINES FOR ILLEGAL ENTRY AND OVER-6
STAY. 7
(a) I
LLEGALENTRY.—Chapter 8 of title II of the Im-8
migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1321 et seq.) is 9
amended— 10
(1) in section 275 (8 U.S.C. 1325)— 11
(A) in subsection (a)— 12
(i) by striking ‘‘(1)’’; 13
(ii) by striking ‘‘or (2)’’; 14
(iii) by striking ‘‘(3)’’; and 15
(iv) by striking ‘‘shall, for’’ and all 16
that follows and inserting the following: 17
‘‘shall— 18
‘‘(1) for the first commission of any such of-19
fense, be fined in accordance with subsection (b), 20
imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both; and 21
‘‘(2) for a subsequent commission of any such 22
offense, be fined in accordance with subsection (b), 23
imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.’’; and 24
(B) in subsection (b)— 25
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(i) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ before ‘‘Any 1
alien’’; 2
(ii) by striking ‘‘civil penalty of’’ and 3
all that follows through the period at the 4
end of paragraph (2) and inserting ‘‘civil 5
penalty in an amount equal to not less 6
than $3,000 and not more than $10,000.’’; 7
and 8
(iii) in the undesignated matter at the 9
end, by striking ‘‘Civil penalties’’ and in-10
serting the following: 11
‘‘(2) Civil penalties’’; and 12
(2) in section 276 (8 U.S.C. 1326), by amend-13
ing subsection (a) to read as follows: 14
‘‘(a)(1) Subject to paragraph (2) and subsection (b), 15
any alien who, after being denied admission, excluded, de-16
ported, or removed or after departing the United States 17
while an order of exclusion, deportation, or removal is out-18
standing, enters, attempts to enter, or is at any time found 19
in, the United States, shall be subject to a civil penalty 20
in an amount equal to not less than $3,000 and not more 21
than $10,000. 22
‘‘(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), an alien de-23
scribed in such paragraph shall not be subject to the civil 24
penalty described in such paragraph if— 25
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‘‘(A) before reembarking at a place outside the 1
United States or applying for admission from a for-2
eign contiguous territory, the Secretary of Homeland 3
Security has expressly consented to such alien’s re-4
applying for admission; or 5
‘‘(B) with respect to an alien previously denied 6
admission and removed, such alien establishes that 7
he or she was not required to obtain such advance 8
consent under this Act.’’. 9
(b) O
VERSTAY.—Section 222(g) of the Immigration 10
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1202(g)) is amended by 11
adding at the end the following: 12
‘‘(3) An alien described in paragraph (1) shall be sub-13
ject to a civil penalty in an amount equal to the product 14
of $50 multiplied by the number of months the alien re-15
mained in the United States beyond the alien’s authorized 16
period of stay.’’. 17
Æ
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