(José Niño, Headline USA) President Donald Trump signed an executive order on May 19, 2026 that aims to weaponize the American banking system against illegal immigration. The order, titled “Restoring Integrity to America’s Financial System,” directs Treasury and federal financial regulators to implement a series of measures designed to make it financially untenable for illegal immigrants to remain in the country.
The executive order does not immediately shut down anyone’s bank accounts. Instead, it triggers a regulatory process with specific deadlines. Within 60 days, the Treasury Secretary must issue a formal advisory to financial institutions identifying “red flags” for suspicious activity tied to immigration, including use of Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers to open accounts, off-the-books wage payments, and payroll tax evasion schemes, per a report by global legal services provider Mayer Brown.
Within the same 60-day window, federal bank regulators must issue credit risk guidance incorporating deportation risk as a factor affecting a borrower’s ability to repay loans. According to the American Banker, within 90 days, the Treasury must propose changes to Bank Secrecy Act suspicious activity reporting rules. Within 180 days, Treasury and regulators must consider amending customer identification rules to account for risks posed by foreign consular identification cards.
Separately, the order authorizes financial institutions to probe whether account holders have lawful immigration status as part of a risk-based due diligence program. The order also directs the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to consider clarifying that “potential deportation and loss of wages are factors that could adversely affect a non-work authorized borrower’s ability to repay,” per the Federal Register.
Trump went further in his June 2 Truth Social post, declaring “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 be returned to Taxpayers.”
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
