“At [President Trump’s] direction, we are working to cut off federal benefits to illegal aliens and preserve them for U.S. citizens,” Bessent wrote on X.
[snip]
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) ostensibly prohibits illegal immigrants from obtaining most taxpayer-funded benefits.
However, in a February executive order barring illegal immigrants from access to federally funded benefits, Trump argued that in the decades since PRWORA’s passage, “numerous administrations have acted to undermine the principles and limitations directed by the Congress.”
[snip]
Treasury’s final regulations are expected to apply beginning in tax year 2026.
In a separate social media post, Bessent warned that illegal migrants “use our financial institutions to move their illicitly obtained funds.”
Describing that practice as “exploitation,” the Treasury secretary vowed: “It will end.”
“[President Trump] is right — if you’re here illegally, there’s no place for you in our financial system,” Bessent wrote.
[snip]
The alert noted that money services businesses (MSBs) are generally required to file a suspicious activity report for a transaction that involves at least $2,000 and may violate federal law, including a “cross-border transfer of funds derived from unlawful employment or otherwise derived from funds the MSB knows, suspects, or has reason to suspect were illicitly obtained in the United States.”
[snip]
The report, citing former state fraud investigators, state lawmakers and federal counterterrorism officials, noted that the vast majority of the defendants in several of the high-profile fraud scandals are Somali or Somali American, and that the money makes its way to the terror group, sometimes unintentionally, when the ill-gotten welfare funds are sent to Somalia by Somalis committing fraud in Minnesota.
* Original Article:
https://nypost.com/2025/11/28/us-news/treasury-secretary-scott-bessent-moves-to-cut-off-illegal-migrants-from-tax-benefits-and-cross-border-money-transfers/