A lock on a gate on the exterior of the US Department of Treasury building.Chip Somodevilla/Getty
The Trump administration is considering an executive order that would compel banks to collect citizenship information from customers, new and existing, who want to maintain service in the United States, according to new reporting from the Wall Street Journal.
This potential escalation in the administration’s campaign against non-US citizens would also add more hurdles for victims of domestic abuse who are trying to leave their unsafe circumstances—whether they’re citizens or not.
While banks are required to collect some personal information to protect themselves from fraud, “banks don’t routinely share that information with the government,” and there “is no prohibition on banks opening accounts for noncitizens,” per the Journal.
White House spokesman Kush Desai told the Journal that “Any reporting about potential policymaking that has not been officially announced by the White House is baseless speculation.” But banks, the paper reports, are “alarmed.”
It’s unclear what exactly the administration would demand from banks and their users, though the action could impact those who are in the country legally but aren’t citizens and those without access to key documentation that could prove citizenship—a category that includes many survivors of intimate partner violence, up to 99 percent of whom also experience some kind of financial abuse. Teal Inzunza, associate vice president of justice initiatives at the Urban Resource Institute in New York, works with survivors of domestic violence. Financial abuse, she told me, can look like “withholding documentation.”
“An abusive partner will hold somebody’s ID, their passport, their immigration information, as a form of power and control in an abusive relationship,” she said. If the Trump administration were to require banks to confirm citizenship, Inzunza continued, it would “add another layer of difficulty for survivors and immigrants to access a necessary part of our economy” and “will make getting a bank account nearly impossible for many of them.”
Having access to an independent bank account for those experiencing financial and domestic abuse can be paramount for making a plan to leave. Proof of income is often required to secure housing; courts discerning custody agreements want parents to illustrate that they can financially support children; employers might ask for a direct deposit form or banking information; getting access to a vehicle may require a bank account or credit information. It’s also safer for survivors to siphon money away into a bank account than to depend on hoarding cash in the same home as their abuser.
Even if President Donald Trump doesn’t move forward with an executive order, others in the GOP may take up the cause. After the Journal’s initial reporting on Tuesday, Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas was quick to show his support for the potential bank requirement. “I strongly support President Trump taking action to prevent illegal migrants from accessing our banking system,” he wrote on X, adding that he “will be introducing legislation on this issue shortly.” Cotton also shared a letter that he wrote to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in October of last year, urging the department head to “undertake a comprehensive review” to prevent “illegal aliens” from accessing US banks. The senator wrote that “we are permitting illegal aliens to establish financial roots and integrate economically.”
As Trump and his administration continue to detain tens of thousands of non-US citizens, an already complicated reality for immigrant survivors of abuse has become even more fearful.
In January of 2025, the Department of Homeland Security announced it was rescinding protections for “sensitive zones,” which can include domestic violence shelters. In the spring of 2025, The Alliance for Immigrant Survivors surveyed over 170 advocates and attorneys nationwide. When asked, more than three in four advocates reported that the immigrant survivors they work with have concerns about contacting the police. As The Marshall Project noted, several victims of domestic violence were killed by their abusers last summer after reportedly not reaching out to law enforcement because they feared deportation.
Because of the imminent fear of violence, victims often need to flee quickly—sometimes bringing very little with them. Needing those documents to prove legal status, should the banking rules change, could mean trying to get an abuser to hand them over or paying large sums to have them replaced. Gaining access to documents can be complicated and dangerous, especially, Inzunza said, if “your abusive partner is holding those hostage.”
