Trump’s promise to level the playing field by passing tax reform this Christmas helped flyover America to believe in Santa once again. It not only isn’t fair that under current tax laws illegal immigrants can file tax returns and receive billions in child tax credits—even when they pay no taxes at all—it’s criminal. These tax credits amount to goody bags full of unearned and unaccountable welfare benefits for illegal immigrants, and U.S. tax policies should not be set up that reward illegal immigration.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) is a first step in shutting down the great give-away in unearned benefits to illegal immigrants, though it still falls short of what most Americans want, which is no benefits for any illegal immigrants, whether it is for a children or adults.

Under current law, a Social Security number (SSN) is required to qualify for any federal public benefit. Green card holders, refugees and those granted asylum receive SSNs. But workers without a SSN can still file taxes—and apply for certain tax credits–with just an ITIN (individual tax identification number) created for tax filers without SSNs.

Today, an illegal alien, even with a shaky SSN or an ITIN, can claim the child tax credit and receive up to $1,000 per child, even though the child may only have an ITIN, which is not proof of legal residence as are SSNs. Unlike the earned income tax credit, which requires a SSN to qualify, the child tax credit is a cash program that does not.

A December 2017 Center for Immigration Studies analysis of the TCJA examined the tax credit implications for illegal aliens and found that, under the Trump administration’s new tax bill, which will not become effective until 2019, the children of illegal immigrant parents must have a valid SSN to qualify for the credit, even if the parent does not have one.

David North, a Center fellow and author of the analysis said, “What is needed, of course, is a law or an IRS ruling that says if a filer’s SSN does not match with a legally obtained one, there will be no refunds. None.”

According to a report of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the IRS erroneously paid out an estimated $15.6 billion in earned income tax credit payments in fiscal year 2015, representing a whopping 23.8% of the total earned income credits paid out in that fiscal year.

The Tax Administration’s investigation also chronicled improper child tax credit fraud and error payments ranging from $5.9 billion to $7.1 billion, as well as uncovering schemes such as nearly 24,000 ITIN payments going to the same address. That’s a whole lot of money being siphoned from the pockets of hard working Americans.

Closing down all IRS and welfare benefits that basically reward illegal immigration must be eliminated if our nation is to become prosperous again. In my article, Why Millennials Aren’t Procreating, I examined the question of whether we needed immigration to sustain the U.S. Population, a popular idea with Democrats, pro-immigration think tanks, and social manipulators.

What I found was that current government policies don’t do enough to nurture and encourage family building for its own citizens and that millennials are struggling under current tax policy, a sour economy, staggering student debt, and high housing costs.

Democrats who are digging in their heels against any immigration policy reforms, including taxes, are doing all they can to keep their largest base intact, including their Dreamers.  Allowing the goodies that illegal immigrants are receiving to be eliminated won’t sit well with the millions of illegal aliens who are also recipients of the huge giveaway Democrats orchestrated under eight years of Obama.

The huge influx of illegal Muslim immigrants is draining our coffers even more than our neighbors south of the border. Muslims have no desire to integrate into the American system, but they also have no compunction about sucking dry the state’s welfare program. Although are southern neighbors send millions in U.S. dollars across the border, they also work.

Statistically, almost all Muslims in Michigan are foreign born and are on welfare. In 2016, a Muslim food stamp crime ring in Grand Rapids was broken up that was estimated to have cost taxpayers $736,000 in EBT handouts and $544,000 in WIC entitlements over the course of nine years.

It is absolutely shameful that these same Muslims collecting American taxpayer handouts are often driving Range Rovers, building million dollar mosques, and wearing designer clothes. Many are given seed money to build and open mosques and Arabic businesses that are funded by terrorists cell groups in the United States, such as Hamas. You can read more about the welfare fraud in my article, Michigan’s Muslim Problem.

And if you think the additional welfare expenses for illegals is high, consider the procreation math. Muslim men often have multiple wives, out-producing both American citizens and illegal Mexican and Central American aliens.

Detroit, once the beacon of American ingenuity and a pillar of manufacturing, is overrun by legal and illegal Muslims, due in large part to Governor Ricky Snyder’s call in 2014 for the infusion of 50,000 unvetted Syrian “immigrants” to revitalize Detroit. Steve Tarani, author and speaker recounts what he saw when he rode with a member of the Detroit Metro SWAT Police as they drove around Detroit and into Dearborn:

“The street signs suddenly went from English to Arabic. There wasn’t a single English word on any shop or any street sign. And in fact, these little yellow signs were posted all along the edges. Jeremy said to me, ‘this is it. We don’t go past this line.’ And I said to Jeremy, ‘what do you mean? You guys are Detroit Metro. You’re the SWAT team. You can go anywhere you want. What if you get a call over there?’ He said ‘this is it, it’s hazardous for our team if we go past this line.’”

What the left fails to get is that the wall deplorable Americans want so badly isn’t just about keeping people out, it’s about letting American citizens build and dream again. If government just redirected the billions now spent on entitlement programs for illegals, young Americans could afford to have and raise children. Immigration was never needed to revitalize Detroit or any other city in this great country. What is needed is a government that keeps American interests in mind and strives for an economic environment that provides growth and opportunity for its own citizens.

Clearly, we have more work to do in the coming year to level the playing field and make government policies work for its own legal citizens. You can expect huge battles in 2018 with liberal bleeding hearts, but without a fight, we have already lost. Reign well.