President Donald Trump announced a sweeping new executive order aimed at blocking illegal immigrants from accessing the American financial system, a move his administration says will choke off welfare benefits and encourage self-deportation.
In a Truth Social post made in early June, Trump laid out his reasoning for the policy and explained how the Treasury Department would lead the effort. As The American Tribune reported, the president framed the measure as one of the most consequential tools in his broader crackdown on illegal immigration.
Trump opened by describing the scale of the problem, stating that illegal immigrants and foreign fraudsters steal billions of dollars from American taxpayers every year. The new executive order, he explained, would direct the Treasury Department to prevent banks, credit cards, and other financial institutions from being used to facilitate human smuggling, drug trafficking, illegal immigration, and the operations of criminal cartels.
The president drew a direct line between financial system access and welfare dependency. He argued that access to the nation's financial infrastructure should be reserved for those with a legal right to be in the country and who are engaged in lawful commerce. Bank accounts being used to enable illegal immigration or to store welfare payments received by illegal aliens would be shut down, Trump said, with funds ultimately facing impoundment and seizure so they could be returned to taxpayers.
Trump also took aim at what he called a dangerous loophole in the current system, pointing out that any illegal immigrant can present a blue state driver's license or a Biden-era border document and gain unrestricted access to U.S. financial services. He characterized this state of affairs as not merely absurd but genuinely dangerous.
Remittances were another target of the executive order. Trump noted that billions of dollars flow out of the country every year through various channels, and his order would give the government tools to stop those outflows tied to criminal activity. He also used the announcement to take a swipe at anti-ICE protesters, warning that their disruptions were only hardening his administration's resolve.
Wrapping up the post, the president struck a confident tone, writing that many observers have called this measure the most effective means of reversing what he described as Biden's border invasion. He signed off with a promise that the results would speak for themselves.
Vice President JD Vance has separately drawn attention to the welfare issue, highlighting what he described as an 85 percent welfare usage rate among Somali migrants as evidence that the current system is being exploited on a massive scale.
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