White House Weighs Requiring Citizenship Checks for Bank Customers

The Trump administration is considering requiring banks to collect citizenship information from both new and existing customers, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday (Feb. 24), citing unnamed sources.

This requirement could be implemented by an executive order or other action, according to the report.

Asked about this initiative by the WSJ, White House spokesman Kush Desai said, per the report: “Any reporting about potential policymaking that has not been officially announced by the White House is baseless speculation.”

According to the WSJ report, this potential requirement could require banks to ask customers for documents they don’t currently collect when opening or maintaining a bank account, such as a passport.

Currently, banks don’t collect information about citizenship status, don’t routinely share information gathered under know-your-customer rules with the government, and aren’t prohibited from opening accounts for noncitizens, the report said.

In an earlier, separate move, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Department of Justice said in January that the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and Regulation B permit creditors to consider a borrower’s immigration or citizenship status along with other pertinent elements of creditworthiness and information to protect the creditor’s rights and remedies regarding repayment.

The agencies said this while announcing that they withdrew a 2023 joint statement that warned lenders not to look at an applicant’s immigration status when considering extending credit. The joint statement cautioned lenders that policies related to the borrower’s status could violate provisions of the ECOA and Regulation B.

When announcing the withdrawal of the joint statement, CFPB Acting Director Russell Vought said that ECOA regulations have, for decades, permitted lenders to consider borrowers’ residence status and other information.

“We are correcting the last administration’s attempt to ignore these well-accepted and common-sense principles of our nation’s fair lending laws,” Vought said at the time.

It was reported in November 2024 that current and former senior government attorneys said that while the government would continue to pursue financial fraud cases, President Donald Trump’s Justice Department would likely prioritize areas like immigration enforcement. They noted that immigration enforcement was one of the tentpoles of the president’s campaign.