Sen. Tim Scott previews bills to redeploy IRS agents to border, says he has measure to sanction groups that "promote" illegal immigration
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Summary
In a television interview, Sen. Tim Scott said he introduced legislation to reassign IRS personnel to border enforcement and another bill to allow the president to sanction individuals and organizations that promote illegal immigration; Scott described these as responses to what he called enforcement gaps and agency misuse under the Biden years.
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., said he has introduced legislation that would redirect IRS staff or funding to support border-security operations and a separate bill that he described as granting the president authority to sanction individuals and organizations that "promote" illegal immigration.
"You recently introduced a bill which sends IRS funding to help secure the border, and you've got another bill which grants President Trump the ability to sanction individuals, nongovernmental organizations, and any other institution who promotes illegal immigration," the interviewer noted. Scott confirmed the measures in the interview and framed them as responses to what he called weak enforcement and misdirected federal priorities.
Scott said the Department of Homeland Security had "sent a letter to the Treasury Department requesting that the IRS provide agents for immigration enforcement efforts," and he questioned whether newly hired IRS personnel were the appropriate resource for border operations.
On the size of recent IRS hiring, Scott said a large hiring drive had added tens of thousands of staff and characterized that pool as a potential resource for border tasks; he did not provide an exact, verifiable current head count during the interview.
Scott also reiterated a proposal he described as giving the president tools to sanction people and entities that he said were facilitating illegal immigration. He framed the measures within a broader policy argument that resources in recent legislation, including funds from the Inflation Reduction Act, had been put to priorities he opposes rather than immigration enforcement.
The interview contained assertions of policy and legislative intent; it did not include bill text, a bill number, or committee action. Scott did not specify implementation details such as which IRS positions would be reassigned, whether the reassignments would be voluntary, or how the sanctions authority he described would be implemented under existing law.
Context: The remarks are a statement of bill sponsorship and policy intent made in a televised interview. They represent the senator's public position; the interview did not include responses from the Department of Homeland Security, the Treasury Department or the Internal Revenue Service.
