President Donald Trump is highlighting a May 19 executive order aimed at cutting off financial access used to support illegal immigration, cartel activity, human smuggling, drug trafficking, and financial fraud, as reported by Red State.
Trump promoted the order on Tuesday on Truth Social, describing it as part of his administration’s broader effort to combat illegal immigration and recover money he says has been taken from American taxpayers.
The order, titled “Restoring Integrity to America’s Financial System,” directs the Treasury Department and federal regulators to review banking, lending, and customer-identification rules that the administration says have been exploited by illegal immigrants, money launderers, human traffickers, cartels, and other criminal actors.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 2, 2026
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“Illegal Immigrants and Foreign Fraudsters steal BILLIONS every year from the American Taxpayer. As part of my Administration's Historic effort to end FRAUD and reverse MASS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION, I recently signed a powerful new Executive Order, which will be led by the Treasury Department, to stop Banks, Credit Cards, and Financial Institutions from being used to facilitate Human Smuggling, Drug Trafficking, Illegal Immigration, and the Criminal Cartels who orchestrate these activities. Access to our Nation's Financial Systems must be limited to those who have a Legal Right to be here, and who are engaged in Lawful and Legitimate Commerce. Bank Accounts being used to enable Illegal Immigration, or to store the Welfare received by Illegal Aliens, will be shut down, and funds will ultimately face Impoundment and Seizure so they can to be returned to Taxpayers. It is not ludicrous, but profoundly dangerous, that any Illegal Alien can simply present a Blue State Drivers License, or Biden Border Document, and have unrestricted access to the U.S. Financial System. This also sends a clear message to the anti-ICE rioters that your violent disruptions are only strengthening our resolve. My Executive Order will also allow us to stop Billions in leaving our Country in all manner of criminal activity. It has been said this measure we are taking is the most effective means of reversing Biden's Border Invasion. We shall soon find out!” Trump wrote.
The order instructs Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to issue guidance identifying suspicious financial patterns connected to payroll-tax evasion, labor trafficking, shell-company activity, off-the-books wage payments, and the use of Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers to obtain financial services without verified legal presence.
Treasury is also directed to work with federal banking regulators on proposed changes to Bank Secrecy Act regulations. Those changes would strengthen customer due diligence requirements and give financial institutions broader authority to obtain additional information when reviewing fraud, money laundering, sanctions evasion, and other illicit-finance risks.
Under current practice, immigration status is generally not part of routine underwriting decisions for most consumer loans. The Trump administration is signaling that banks and lenders should give more attention to whether an applicant’s immigration status creates repayment risks or broader compliance concerns.
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One of the most contested portions of the order directs the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to consider clarifying that potential deportation and resulting wage loss may be factors lenders can consider when evaluating whether a borrower can repay a loan.
That marks a shift from the Biden era. Earlier this year, the CFPB and Department of Justice withdrew Biden-era guidance that discouraged the use of immigration status in certain lending decisions.
Legal analysts at Mayer Brown, a global law firm focused on financial regulation, have noted that the directive could eventually require banks to consider immigration status as part of customer due diligence and underwriting reviews, depending on how regulators implement the order.
A White House fact sheet accompanying the executive order cites Chinese money-laundering networks that have used U.S.-based accounts to move illicit funds. It also points to financial activity linked to Mexican cartels involved in fentanyl trafficking and human smuggling.
The administration argues that existing identification and verification standards have created openings that criminal organizations have learned to use.
Opponents on the left are already objecting. The National Consumer Law Center warned the order would “radically destabilize the U.S. financial system and force debanking on an unprecedented scale.”
Deputy director Diane Thompson said the measure would “weaponize the financial system against immigrants” and accused the administration of pushing people to “put their money under the mattress instead of in the bank.”
Senior attorney Carla Sanchez-Adams called the order “misguided and cruel,” arguing it would “systematically debank millions of people based on suspicion and stereotypes.”
The order gives Treasury 60 days to issue its advisory and 90 days to begin proposing regulatory changes. After that, federal regulators will be responsible for advancing the process, with Congress potentially becoming involved later.
Trump’s latest move shifts the immigration fight from border enforcement alone to the financial systems that may be used to support illegal immigration and the criminal enterprises tied to it.
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