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1. Homeland First Act: Legislative Outline

Model Legislative Outline, not final bill text. It needs drafting by legislative counsel. Version 2.1, revised November 4, 2026.

This Act may be cited as the “Homeland First Act”.

Purpose

To stop foreign aid spending, restore Congress’s war power, pause immigration for ten years, strengthen naturalization, cap refugee admissions, end birthright citizenship for children of parents who are neither citizens nor lawful permanent residents, force the sale of land controlled by foreign adversary governments, replace the 1965 Act’s family-preference system and the diversity visa lottery with a merit-based immigration system when the moratorium ends, bar banks and money transmitters from serving persons unlawfully present, and raise the remittance tax to 50% for senders who are not U.S. citizens or nationals and to 99% for senders unlawfully present.

Principal Requirements

Sec. 4. End of foreign assistance

Sec. 5. Declaration of war required

Sec. 6. Ten-year immigration moratorium

Sec. 7. Refugee admissions

Sec. 8. Naturalization standards

Sec. 9. Divestment of adversary-controlled land

Sec. 10. Birthright citizenship (implementing statute)

Sec. 11. Merit-based immigration (repeal of the 1965 family-preference system)

Sec. 12. Lawful status required for financial services

Sec. 13. Remittance tax: 50% for senders who are not citizens, 99% for senders unlawfully present

Part B. House Joint Resolution: citizenship amendment

Definitions and Eligibility

Existing Law Affected

Implementation Timeline

Responsible Agencies

Department of State (immigrant visas); U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (points scoring, petitions, and SAVE verification for Sec. 12); Departments of Homeland Security, Agriculture, and Defense; Treasury (CFIUS, FinCEN, and the IRS for the remittance tax); the federal banking regulators (OCC, FDIC, Federal Reserve) and the NCUA; the Social Security Administration (status verification); Department of Justice.

Enforcement and Appeals

The Attorney General may sue to compel divestment. Owners may seek review of a divestment notice or valuation in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, with appeal to the D.C. Circuit. Sec. 12 is enforced by FinCEN and the federal banking regulators, with customer appeals to the institution’s regulator and a private action for wrongful closure of a citizen’s or lawful resident’s account. Sec. 13 is collected and enforced by the IRS, with refund claims through the income tax return for citizens and nationals and for lawful senders who had 99% withheld.

Fiscal Implications

Ending foreign assistance reduces outlays; eminent domain purchases add one-time costs, offset by resale. The remittance tax at 50% and 99% raises receipts, but by an amount that is hard to predict because senders would shift to informal channels; verification costs fall mainly on financial institutions. See the fiscal appendix.

See the fiscal appendix for cited estimates.

Constitutional Questions

Current doctrine. Birthright: in United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898), the Supreme Court held that a child born here to parents lawfully domiciled in the United States is a citizen. In Trump v. Barbara (No. 25-365, decided June 30, 2026), the Court affirmed the judgment against Executive Order 14160 by a 6–3 vote. The opinion of the Court (Chief Justice Roberts, joined by Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, Barrett, and Jackson) held that children born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and are citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment. Justice Kavanaugh concurred only in the judgment: he disagreed with the constitutional holding and would have ruled that the order violates the statute, 8 U.S.C. 1401(a), which Congress could amend. Justices Thomas (joined by Justice Gorsuch), Alito, and Gorsuch dissented. The constitutional holding, joined by five justices, is the Court’s precedent. War powers: Article I gives Congress the power to declare war and control funding; presidents have claimed Article II authority to use force without it, and the 1973 War Powers Resolution has never been fully tested in court. Land: the Fifth Amendment allows taking property for public use with just compensation. Banking and remittances: Congress regulates banks, credit unions, and money transmitters under the Commerce Clause and the Bank Secrecy Act (31 U.S.C. 5311 et seq.), and the Supreme Court gives Congress wide latitude to treat citizens and non-citizens differently in federal law (Mathews v. Diaz, 1976). Federal excise taxes must be uniform throughout the United States (Article I, Section 8, Clause 1); a single nationwide rate meets that rule. A charge called a tax may be treated as a penalty if it is heavy and tied to unlawful conduct: in NFIB v. Sebelius (2012) the Court upheld the individual mandate payment as a tax partly because it was modest, required no knowing violation, and carried no criminal consequence, while in Bailey v. Drexel Furniture (1922) it struck down a 10% tax on employers of child labor as a penalty. In Department of Revenue of Montana v. Kurth Ranch (1994) a heavy tax on illegal drugs was held to be punishment for double jeopardy purposes, and the Excessive Fines Clause bars punitive charges that are grossly disproportional to the offense (United States v. Bajakajian, 1998). A 99% rate tied to unlawful presence will likely be judged a penalty, not a tax.

Mechanism required. Birthright: a constitutional amendment, ratified by three-fourths of the States (Article V); because five justices held the Fourteenth Amendment itself guarantees this citizenship, a statute alone (including an amendment to 8 U.S.C. 1401(a)) would be held unconstitutional under Barbara. War powers and land divestment: statute, defended in court. Banking and remittance sections (Secs. 12 and 13): ordinary statute. Sec. 13 raises revenue, so the House bill must be passed first (Origination Clause, Article I, Section 7). Under the later-in-time rule, a later statute controls in U.S. courts if it conflicts with an earlier tax treaty, though treaty partners could object. The 99% rate is enacted under the commerce and immigration powers as well as the taxing power, with notice, an IRS appeal, and refund rights, so it can stand as a penalty if a court so holds; a court could still reduce it in a particular case under the Excessive Fines Clause.

Legislative Instrument Required

Bill (H.R.) with a Senate companion (an ordinary statute, including the merit-based immigration system in Sec. 11, the lawful-status rule for financial services in Sec. 12, and the remittance tax in Sec. 13; because Sec. 13 raises revenue, the House bill must pass first), plus a House Joint Resolution (Article V amendment) for birthright citizenship only.

Severability: if any provision, or its application to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the rest of the measure and its other applications are not affected.

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