Findings

Congress finds the following: (1) The United States is home to approximately 6,600,000 first generation African and Caribbean immigrants, nested within a broader population of 46,000,000 African Americans, representing vast economic, intellectual, and cultural capital, with longstanding economic and cultural ties to their countries of origin. (2) Many members of these and other diaspora and immigrant populations annually transmit to their countries of origin or descent portions of their incomes or other earnings—transfers known as remittances—that in the aggregate often are large and significantly contribute to economic growth, development, and human welfare in recipient countries. (3) Remittances to Africa were estimated at over $91,000,000,000 in 2023—transfers which sustain families, fund education and healthcare, finance small businesses, and fill gaps in national infrastructure. (4) An estimated $19,499,000,000 was remitted to the Caribbean in 2023, with those countries receiving billions in essential family and community support. (5) Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most expensive region for sending remittances, with average costs of 7.73 percent to send $200 in Q1 2024. In contrast, the average cost for Latin America and the Caribbean is 5.97 percent. (6) If the global average cost of remittances is reduced to the Sustainable Development Goal target of 3 percent, developing countries could save between $5,000,000,000 and $32,000,000,000 annually and redirect such resources to international economic growth and development investment. (7) The global remittance market was valued at $784,250,000,000 in 2022 and is projected to reach $1,330,000,000,000 by 2032, creating significant employment and economic activity across the financial services industry. (8) As the Economist noted on April 24, 2025, Emigration from Africa will change the world —not as a threat, but as a mutual opportunity for global growth, shared prosperity, and demographic balance. (9) Yet the United States lacks a coherent framework to channel this economic power into formal investment, leaving diaspora members to operate in fragmented, uncoordinated environments with limited access to incentives or protections. (10) The future of United States-Africa relations does not rest solely on diplomatic summits or state-to-state aid. It lies in the millions of quiet financial acts made every month by diaspora citizens: a tuition payment, a clinic donation, a loan to launch a cousin’s shop. These flows deserve the full support of United States law and policy. (11) By embracing the diaspora not only as emotional kin but as strategic co-investors, this Act positions the United States at the frontier of global economic cooperation. It affirms that America's strength abroad rests not only in its institutions—but in the networks of commitment and capital held by its people.