President Trump signed an executive order this week to remove illegal immigrants from financial entities.
According to the order, titled “Restoring Integrity to America’s Financial System,” the Trump administration “will not tolerate national security and public safety risks caused by illicit cross-border financial activity, nor will it permit risks to our financial system posed by the extension of credit or financial services to the inadmissible and removable alien population.”
“Low-dollar cross-border funds transfers have been used to facilitate or commit terrorist financing, narcotics trafficking, human trafficking, and other illegal activity,” the order adds. “Financial trend analyses have uncovered hubs of deadly fentanyl-related financial activity in the United States related to Mexico-based cartels.”
The order directs the Secretary of the Treasury to issue an advisory to financial entities regarding the “risks associated with the exploitation of the United States financial system by non-work authorized populations and their employers.” The advisory will describe patterns of payroll tax evasion, the use of shell companies or foreign-identity documents, use of third-party payment strategies, patterns of withdrawals, and other red flags.
A White House fact sheet on the order explains that employers of illegal aliens “may underreport wages and evade payroll taxes, distorting the income data that underpins credit underwriting and obscuring risk across the financial system.”
The order, which seeks to protect Americans’ banking means, is the latest effort to ensure the nation leads in financial practices. President Trump previously signed an executive order bolstering access to retirement funds, as well as signed the GENIUS Act, which pushes the country toward digital currency leadership.
