It’s another method to discourage illegals from coming to the US and incentivize illegals/fake asylum seekers to leave. But, there’s another big reason to this
Trump Moves to Tighten Banking Access for Non-Citizens
President Donald Trump is moving to tighten access to financial systems for non-citizens in the U.S. amid his Administration’s broader crackdown on immigration.
On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive order, titled “Restoring Integrity to America’s Financial System,” that would require banks to treat a customer’s immigration status as a factor in evaluating potential financial risk.
The new order directs the Treasury Secretary and federal financial regulators to issue guidance to banks on identifying customers whose profiles or transactions potentially indicate risks like money laundering, terrorism financing, and labor trafficking in line with the 1970 Bank Secrecy Act. Those changes are intended to “account for the risks foreign consular identification cards pose to the integrity of the United States financial system,” the order said.
The order describes “red flags and typologies” associated with suspicious activity. Among these are repetitive cash withdrawals, the use of shell companies to conceal true account ownership, and the use of certain platforms for “off-the-books” wage payments.
You can see this is aimed a lot at the amount of scam money being sent overseas, particularly to Somalia, by legal and illegal aliens (FYI, alien in federal law means “not a US citizen”)
The move could make it more difficult for non-citizens, especially undocumented immigrants, to access financial services, even for legitimate reasons. The Administration has aggressively clamped down on both legal and illegal immigration in the U.S. It has detained and deported people en masse, including some with lawful immigration status; increased scrutiny for visa and citizenship applications; and restricted immigrants’ access to public services. Large-scale immigration raids have ignited protests across the country, which have ended in the killings of several Americans by federal agents.
Good.
The fact sheet claimed that “gaps in customer identification practices have allowed terrorists, drug traffickers, money launderers, and other criminal networks to exploit U.S. financial institutions to move illicit funds and evade law enforcement,” citing documented Chinese-linked money laundering networks.
The White House also pointed to cases of banks extending mortgages, credit cards, and loans to undocumented immigrants and employers underreporting wages for undocumented employees, arguing that associated “costs are passed on to American consumers in the forms of higher fees and interest rates.”
Why would a bank give a loan to illegals who face deportation? Many here on work and school visas have trouble getting loans from any institution other than very specialized ones. Many go for leases because their visas are for 3 years.
Forcing illegals out of banking means forcing them into the cash economy. Of course, many of their small businesses operate on cash anyway.