Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) is asking President Donald Trump’s Treasury Department to investigate illegal aliens accessing the United States banking system and to potentially use existing federal law to prevent such financial activity.
In a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, exclusively reviewed by Breitbart News, Cotton asks the administration to “undertake a comprehensive review of current rules that allow illegal aliens to obtain financial services and access to the U.S. banking system…”
“Our immigration laws exist to protect American workers, ensure national security, and maintain our sovereignty,” Cotton writes. “Financial regulations should not undermine these objectives. I believe thoughtful reform in this area is aligned with President Trump’s promise to end illegal immigration.”
In particular, Cotton points to the millions of illegal aliens who were released into the U.S. interior by former President Joe Biden’s administration. Many of those illegal aliens, Cotton writes, are using Matricula cards to access the nation’s banking system without ever having to clarify their immigration status.
“Major financial institutions currently accept these foreign documents as primary identification, effectively extending the privileges of our financial system to those who entered or remain in the country illegally,” Cotton writes:
Access to the American banking system is a privilege that should be reserved for those who respect our laws and sovereignty. When individuals are allowed to open accounts without verifying legal status, we are permitting illegal aliens to establish financial roots and integrate economically, all while bypassing the legal channels that millions use properly. [Emphasis added]
The Treasury Department, Cotton writes, ought to “explore whether the USA PATRIOT Act or the Bank Secrecy Act could appropriately be utilized to prevent illegal aliens from opening accounts at U.S. financial institutions.”
Senior Legal Fellow George Fishman at the Center for Immigration Studies recently published an analysis of such Matricula cards, noting to Trump administration officials that the Treasury Department has the power to repeal the rules allowing illegal aliens to get banking access in the United States.
“… it makes absolutely no sense to keep Treasury Department regulations on the books that purposefully make it easier for illegal aliens to remain in the U.S.,” Fishman writes. “The misbegotten regulations, which should never have been promulgated in the first place, need to be repealed.”
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter here.
Read the full article here