For years, American workers have shouldered the load of a broken immigration system that lets in millions without a plan, while their hard-earned dollars flow into programs that reward lawbreakers. Now, with Scott Bessent at the helm of the Treasury Department, that era of unchecked spending is facing a reckoning.

Bessent, the Wall Street veteran who took over as the nation’s 79th Treasury secretary in January, has kicked off a direct assault on the loopholes allowing illegal aliens to tap into federal tax breaks and wire billions back home without a second thought.

Bessent’s office laid it out plain: The department is “reviewing the tax status of ITIN filers with a focus on preventing access to refundable credits such as the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit.” Those Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers—ITINs—have long been a backdoor for non-citizens to file returns and snag refunds, even as they dodge the full weight of citizenship.

It’s a setup that’s funneled an estimated $4.2 billion in child tax credits alone to households with at least one illegal alien last year, according to Treasury data. And that’s just the start. Bessent’s team is also eyeing restrictions on remittances, those cross-border cash transfers that hit $96 billion from the U.S. to Latin America in 2024, per World Bank figures. “We’re looking at ways to limit or tax those outflows to keep more money circulating in the American economy,” a department insider told Fox Business on Friday.

This push comes straight from President Trump’s playbook, echoing his February executive order that slammed the door on “all taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal aliens.” That order, which Bessent has called a “vital first step,” forced agencies to scour their books for any federal dollars propping up sanctuary cities or padding programs that indirectly aid those here unlawfully.

The math tells a grim story: The Federation for American Immigration Reform pegs the annual cost of illegal immigration at $182 billion, with Medicaid emergency care for illegals alone gobbling up $16.2 billion under the previous administration—a 124% spike from Trump’s first term. Critics in Washington whisper that these moves are just theater, but the fine print suggests otherwise. By tightening ITIN rules, Treasury could claw back billions that might otherwise go toward extending the 2017 tax cuts for working families—the very families Bessent vowed to protect during his Senate confirmation.

Bessent’s no stranger to big bets. The South Carolina-born hedge fund manager built a fortune spotting market shifts, first at George Soros’s firm in the ’90s, then launching his own outfit, Key Square, which raked in returns during global turmoil. He backed Trump’s tariff threats on China during his January hearing, arguing they’d force fairer trade without tanking growth.

Now, applying that same sharp eye to immigration, he’s betting that cutting off these incentives will slow the flood at the border. “Illegal immigration imposes crushing burdens on American taxpayers,” Trump said in a statement tied to the order, and Bessent’s actions back it up. Remittances aren’t just money leaving the country; they’re a lifeline for cartels and smugglers, with U.S. officials estimating that up to 20% of those transfers tie back to drug money laundering, based on a 2023 DEA report.

Of course, not everyone’s cheering. Immigrant advocacy groups are already filing lawsuits, claiming this targets families and kids who “just want a shot at the dream.” But let’s be real: The dream was never supposed to come at the expense of citizens waiting in line, or taxpayers footing the bill for schools, hospitals, and now tax refunds they never earned. Bessent’s review could wrap up by spring, with proposed rules hitting the Federal Register soon after. If it sticks, it might finally make the system play fair—prioritizing the folks who built this country, not the ones gaming it.

In a nation where borders mean something and budgets balance on trust, these steps feel like common sense long overdue. With Trump’s team digging in, the message is clear: America’s resources stay with Americans. Whether the courts or Congress throw up roadblocks remains to be seen, but for now, the Treasury’s got its sights locked.