Trump May Remove Millions of Americans' Access to Their Bank Accounts

[applegrove]

Trump May Remove Millions of Americans’ Access to Their Bank Accounts

https://open.substack.com/pub/rawstory/p/trump-may-take-away-millions-of-americans?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=3aksq

The Trump administration is moving forward on an executive order that would require banks to collect citizenship documentation from their customers. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed it’s already in process.

Republican Senator Tom Cotton is cheering this on, writing to the Treasury Department to push for a review of rules that let undocumented people access the banking system. But here’s the part that doesn’t get said enough: this wouldn’t just affect undocumented immigrants.

Banking experts are warning that this order could strip millions of ordinary Americans of their bank accounts. Think about who doesn’t have a passport. According to American Banker, only about half of the U.S. population does. In West Virginia, it’s about two in ten. And the ten states with the lowest passport rates, all below 37 percent, voted for Trump in the last three elections.

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The details of the order still aren’t clear, including exactly what documents will be required, how exceptions would work, and what happens to people with incomplete records. But the direction is clear enough: a lot of Americans, including a lot of Trump voters, could find themselves suddenly without a bank account.