Trump was smart to shut down much of the corrupt foreign aid industrial complex. That money rarely trickles down to the very poor and instead ends up in the black hole of NGOs.

But there is one form of foreign aid that works to help to reduce poverty in the poorest countries: direct remittances of about $100 billion a year from immigrant workers in the U.S. to their families who stayed back home. Unlike government foreign aid, these dollars transfer right into the hands of people who need the money for food or housing or schooling or medical care.

In most cases, payroll and income taxes have already been deducted from the immigrants’ paychecks before remittances are made.

This new provision is just an unfair double tax that will hurt the poor the most, and will likely lead to under-the-table payments to get around the tax.