WASHINGTON - Israel Verde's life in Cajolá, a small western Guatemala town, has been sent home from the United States by his three children.

The money from their construction work paid for the two-story white house where Vail now lives, and if they are deported, his children in the United States will also live. Vail, 53, has invested some money to open a local food store to keep his family floating.

Remittances for the entire economy are not rare in small migrant towns like Kayola, while migrant workers send back funds from their homeland.

"The people here, they don't live in luxury, but their remittance lives," said Weill.

House Republicans have included President Donald Trump’s Big Priority Bill in a 5% excise tax, and the remittance tax will cover more than 40 million people, including green card holders and non-immigrant visa holders, such as those on H-1B, H-2A and H-2B visas. U.S. citizens will be exempted.

Trump also recently announced that he is finalizing a presidential memorandum to "close remittances sent by the American people." White House and finance officials did not respond to the Associated Press's request for comment on details of the presidential memorandum previewed on April 25 in the Truth Social Job.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected the measure and called on Republican lawmakers to reconsider the measure, saying "it will damage the economies of both countries and also violate the spirit of economic freedom claimed by the U.S. government."

“Remittances are the result of those efforts to strengthen not only the Mexican economy but the United States through honest work, which is why we believe this measure is arbitrary and unjust,” she said in a morning press conference.

Remittance experts, local leaders and former immigrants say banning, restricting or increasing taxes on certain remittances could harm communities that rely on them, proving the burden to U.S. citizens and companies

The influx of money provides an important economic lifeline for residents of poor towns, who often have little access to jobs or income. Experts say remittances provide opportunities for people in their home country, thus risking them to migrate to the United States at a less risk.

“Any measure to reduce remittances will have a negative impact on U.S. national interests,” said Manuel Orozco, director of Immigration, Remittance and Development Programs at the U.S. International Dialogue. “It will have an impact on the home country.”

Supporters of efforts to remittances say they are illegal effective taxes on the American people and may be revenue creators of the U.S. government.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Research, which advocates reductions in immigration, acknowledged that restricting, banning or taxing remittances would make it more difficult for U.S. immigration to illegally.

“One of the main reasons people come here is to work and remit home,” Cricorian said. “If what you want to do is much harder, it becomes more attractive to come here.”

Over the past few years, legislation to control remittances has been proposed in 18 states - through international and domestic remittance taxes. Almost all of these efforts were voted on.

The exception is Oklahoma, which is taxed on remittances: any wire transfer costs $5 under $500, and any amount exceeding $500 is 1%.

Steven Yates, now a senior fellow at the Heritage Institute, wrote for the First Policy Institute that every state should adopt this policy to combat the impact of illegal immigration.

Other senior Trump administration officials also support efforts to strengthen control over remittance control. Vice President JD Vance served as Ohio Senator in 2023 and co-sponsored the Wireless Law

The intent of the bill (which may allow people who can prove their citizenship to receive fees as a person with a refundable tax credit - "punish illegal activities such as drugs and human smuggling". The bill does not leave the committee.

"This legislation is a common sense solution that is not conducive to illegal immigration and reduces cartels' financial powers," Vance said introductory statement.

According to the World Bank, the total remittances sent to the country in 2023 totaled approximately US$656 billion, equivalent to Belgium's GDP. The money for Mexican immigrants to return home to their relatives increased by 7.6% in 2023, reaching a record $63.3 billion this year.

Remittances are also a major factor in the global economy, usually sent from U.S. wire services, rather than banks and credit unions. According to the World Bank, India, Mexico and China are the largest recipients of these funds.

Orozco responded to a proposal for tax remittances in the new Republican House bill: “Some senders will find different ways to send money through unauthorized channels.

"Less dispatch will affect the receiving households, limit savings ability, and thus increase the intention to move," Orozco said.

In Cajolá, local leaders say remittance flows prevent young people from immigrating because they see economic opportunities that they didn’t have. The loss of lifeline will cause a devastating blow to families like him, even folding his small business, Weill said.

“There are a lot of fear,” Weil said. “The worries are that for people living in Guatemala, there will be no jobs because businesses will disappear.”

He said his business has been struggling since Trump took office, and his sales of eggs, beans, sugar, etc. have dropped.

“When Donald Trump won, many people stopped sending money, or they started saving money,” he said. “The business fell a lot.”