The Treasury Department moved Friday to enlist the nation’s banks more deeply in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, issuing fresh guidance that allows banks to rapidly share information about suspected customers and advising them to flag signs that a customer may lack legal immigration status.
The changes are part of the administration’s push to remove undocumented workers from the nation’s banking system without explicitly mandating that banks do so, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. In remarks prepared for a banking conference in Houston, Bessent framed the actions as a crackdown on fraud and crime, rather than directly on immigration.
“The information in your purview can help stop a cartel financier, disrupt a money laundering network, uncover labor exploitation, or protect taxpayers from fraud,” Bessent said.
MSI previously reported that the Treasury had asked banks and casinos to flag illegal immigrant labor schemes on June 5, and that a Trump administration order from May had pushed banks to check customers’ citizenship status.