Sponsor
Thomas Bryant Cotton
Senator · R-AR
Senator · R-AR
Bars noncitizens from many federal public benefits, expands expedited removal and denaturalization for certain violent/subversive conduct, mandates Afghan re‑screenings, and adds an automatic TPS termination trigger.
Official title: Terminate Federal benefits for noncitizens, to authorize the denaturalization of naturalized citizens who undermine domestic tranquility, to expand expedited removal authority, to require mandatory revetting of nationals of Afghanistan, and to provide for automatic termination of temporary protected status, and for other purposes.
Introduced December 3, 2025 by Thomas Bryant Cotton · Last progress December 3, 2025
The bill tightens eligibility for benefits, expands expedited enforcement and denaturalization authorities, and increases vetting and reporting to reduce federal outlays and speed removals — but it risks substantial hardship for immigrants and mixed‑status families, significant due‑process and civil‑liberties concerns, and higher costs and administrative strain for localities and service providers.
Many noncitizen cases and removals will be resolved faster, reducing immigration-case backlogs and allowing DHS to prioritize urgent cases.
Excluding noncitizens from refundable tax credits and some means-tested programs reduces federal outlays and preserves taxpayer dollars for citizens.
The bill strengthens tools to remove or revoke status of individuals judged to pose security threats (including naturalized citizens who engage in violent or insurrectionary acts) by enabling denaturalization and more focused vetting.
Noncitizens and mixed‑status households would lose access to SNAP, Medicaid (non‑emergency), housing assistance, and refundable tax credits, increasing food insecurity, poor health outcomes, homelessness risk, and child poverty for affected families.
Expanding expedited removal and narrowing credible‑fear exceptions would let DHS rapidly deport people present without formal admission (including long‑term residents and asylum seekers), increasing the risk of wrongful returns and harm to refugees and vulnerable people.
Naturalized citizens could lose citizenship based on DHS 'credible findings' with expedited procedures and no time limit, creating serious due‑process and civil‑liberties risks and opening the door to arbitrary or politically motivated denaturalizations.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Prohibits non‑U.S. citizens and non‑nationals from receiving a broad set of federal public benefits (including most cash welfare, SNAP, housing aid, Medicaid except emergency care, federal student aid, and refundable tax credits). It expands DHS authority to use expedited removal against people present without admission or parole, removes many discretionary exceptions, and authorizes denaturalization and removal of naturalized citizens for participation in riots or violent attempts to overthrow or disrupt the constitutional order. It also requires a full security re‑screening of Afghans admitted as refugees, SIV holders, or paroled in since January 20, 2021, suspends Afghan refugee/SIV processing and resettlement funds until Congress is certified, and creates an automatic termination trigger for Temporary Protected Status based on DHS country findings or a crime‑rate threshold reported every 180 days (applies retroactively to several recent designations).