President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Tuesday, May 19. which could significantly alter the access of millions of immigrants to the U.S. financial system.
The decree, titled “Restoring the Integrity of the Financial System of the Americas”It instructs banks and federal regulators. to incorporate the migratory status as a risk assessment tool when opening accounts, granting loans, and detecting suspicious financial activity.
The order is not a law, nor does it directly modify any statute. What it does is direct financial system regulatory agencies—including the Treasury Department, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and major federal banking supervisors—to develop new guidance, notices, and proposed rules within 60 to 180 days.
The real impact will depend on how those agencies translate presidential mandates into concrete regulations.
The Trump administration's justification
The order falls within the immigration policy The broader approach of the second Trump administration has sought to extend its control measures beyond the border and immigration agencies to institutions such as banks, employers, and public benefit systems. In this case, the stated objective is to use the financial system as an additional tool to combat illegal immigration.
The text of the order states that low-value cross-border fund transfers have been used to finance terrorism, narcotics trafficking, and human trafficking, and cites an analysis of money laundering networks where foreign passport holders used accounts in the United States to facilitate the laundering of more than $312 billion for criminal organizations, with human trafficking noted among the associated activities.
It also mentions financial trend analyses that would have detected activity centers related to the fentanyl in the United States, linked to cartels based in Mexico.
“Warning signs” that banks should monitor
The core of the order consists of a list of financial behaviors that the Treasury must formally communicate to banks as indicators of possible illicit activity. Some of these patterns already existed in the Bank Secrecy Act regulations, but the order explicitly reframes them in the immigration context.
Among the patterns noted are: lThe evasion of payroll taxes by employers or labor intermediaries, including the systematic omission of tax withholdings for workers without work authorization; the use of foreign identity documents, nominee accounts, shell companies or complex financial structures to conceal the true identity of account holders or the nature of payroll payments.
It also points to the strategic use of unregistered money service businesses, third-party payment processors, or person-to-person platforms to facilitate "off-the-books" salary payments, designed to evade Bank Secrecy Act reporting thresholds or tax obligations.
Another pattern described is repetitive cash withdrawals or deposits, below reporting thresholds, that coincide with payroll cycles conducted outside of regulated payroll processing systems — a practice known as “structuring” — as well as financial activity indicative of labor trafficking or forced labor, where income is mixed with legitimate business income or transferred to foreign jurisdictions.
The ITIN as a risk signal
Of the entire order, the element that generates the most controversy is the inclusion of the ITIN as a possible banking red flag.
El ITIN —Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number— It is a tax number that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assigns to any person who must file taxes in the United States, regardless of their immigration status. It was created precisely so that people without social Security number could fulfill their tax obligations.
Millions of immigrants use it to pay taxes, open basic bank accounts, and access financial services.
The order states that the Using an ITIN instead of a Social Security number to obtain credit products or open deposit accounts, when the applicant lacks verified legal immigration status, can be identified as a risk factor which requires enhanced due diligence to ensure that the account is not being used to facilitate the illegal employment of unauthorized aliens.
In other words: have an ITIN and use it to open a bank account—something perfectly legal and encouraged by the federal government itself. to collect taxes— could become grounds for additional scrutiny or, in the worst case, a denial of services.
Related: Misinformation about bank accounts opened with ITINs alarms the Latino community
How would this be applied in practice?
The order It does not detail specific implementation mechanisms That remains the responsibility of regulatory agencies. It also does not order banks to close accounts for users with ITINs or to stop opening them. What it does do is establish "warning signs" or red flags that banking institutions must take into account and sets these deadlines:
| Term | AGENDA |
|---|---|
| 60 days | Treasury notice to banks with immigration red flags |
| 60 days | CFPB considers deportation rule as a credit factor |
| 60 days | Regulators issue guidelines on credit risk for immigrants |
| 90 days | Proposed changes to the Banking Secrecy Law |
| 180 days | Consideration of restrictions on foreign consular identifications |
What the order doesn't say: it doesn't specify whether banks will be required to deny services or exactly how they will verify immigration status. Those decisions will be left to regulators in the coming months.
Mortgages and credit
The order also points directly to credit marketThe text instructs the CFPB to consider whether possible deportation and the resulting loss of income should be considered factors that may negatively affect a borrower's ability to repay without work authorization, under the federal regulation's "ability to repay" standards, and that lenders may consider such factors as part of a reasonable and good-faith credit determination.
The White House argues that the banks that grant mortgagescredit cards and loans to undocumented immigrants They generate risks that, according to them, are ultimately borne by American consumers in the form of higher fees and interest rates.
However, This argument faces serious objectionsEconomists generally attribute the level of interest rates to the monetary policy decisions of the Federal Reserve—which sets benchmark rates to control inflation and employment—, to the funding costs of the banks themselves, and to individual credit profile of each borrower. The migratory composition of a loan portfolio is not among the factors that economists identify as determinants of consumer interest rates.
Furthermore, the available data puts into perspective the true magnitude of the phenomenon that the order seeks to address.
According to a study by the Urban Institute, only between 5,000 and 6,000 mortgages per year were granted to clients with ITINs, a very small fraction within a mortgage market that processes millions of loans annually. And according to reports from the Associated Press, Banks were already generally reluctant to lend to customers with ITINs, while government entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—which insure the vast majority of mortgages in the country—generally did not back mortgages for borrowers without a Social Security number.
You may be interested: Suzy Gerónimo, a North Carolina activist in ICE custody, will face a bail hearing this Thursday.
Also for employers
The order It's not limited to immigrant workers. It also puts their employers on the radar.
The text notes that employers who violate immigration law may underreport wages, use invalid or inconsistent Social Security numbers or tax identification numbers, or fail to properly withhold or remit payroll taxes, creating vulnerabilities within the financial system by obscuring sources of income, distorting credit analysis, and facilitating informal economic activity.
This means that a company that pays undocumented workers in cash could be flagged by its bank as a high-risk client under the new criteria, regardless of the sector or size of the business.
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