Trump immigration push: US Treasury asks banks to flag suspicious transactions linked to illegal migrants

The US Treasury Department's financial crimes unit has asked banks to watch for signs of identity theft, payroll tax fraud and money laundering linked to the employment of people living in the country illegally, marking the latest step in President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, AP reported.The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) on Friday issued an advisory directing financial institutions to monitor a range of potential "red flags" associated with payroll schemes involving unauthorised workers.The move follows an executive order signed by Trump in May requiring banks to take a closer look at the citizenship status of their customers.The order directs bank regulators and government agencies to identify signs that people without legal status may be opening bank accounts or obtaining loans and credit cards.However, the measure stopped short of requiring banks to collect citizenship information from all customers, despite earlier reports that the White House was considering a mandatory requirement.While the order does not call for broad restrictions on banking services, it is expected to discourage people living in the US illegally from engaging with the country's financial system.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the administration "will not allow illegal aliens to abuse financial institutions to steal billions of dollars from hardworking American taxpayers."“Schemes to pay unlawful workers often rely upon access to the U.S. financial system, including U.S. banks," he said.Banks in the US have traditionally not collected information on customers' citizenship or immigration status, meaning there are no reliable public estimates of the risks posed by such customers to the financial system.The banking industry had lobbied against proposals that would have made citizenship verification mandatory, arguing that such requirements would be costly and create significant administrative burdens.The FinCEN advisory asks financial institutions to remain alert to more than a dozen potential "red flags" that could indicate an individual is residing in the United States illegally. (AP)