this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2026
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Donald Trump is considering a possible executive order that would require banks to make sure customers are U.S. citizens to create or keep their accounts, according to a new report.

The proposed action, reported byThe Wall Street Journal, would see banks collect information on individuals’ citizenship through requests for a new category of documents in order to open the accounts.

The Independent has contacted the White House for confirmation or further information about reports of the executive order, which has reportedly raised eyebrows among some banks in recent days.

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[–] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 4 points 4 hours ago

I think this will ultimately lead to Trump hoovering up the wealth of his enemies, by closing accounts and having banks transfer the assets to his own hoard. DOGE stole information from the treasury, so Trump has a list to work with.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago

I'm sure this is the way to solve the affordability crisis.

[–] Zink@programming.dev 15 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

So now republicans are cool with the government telling businesses who they can and cannot do business with?

I'm not sure whether to file this one under projection or just good old bigotry.

[–] Abundance114@lemmy.world 0 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

So now republicans are cool with the government telling businesses who they can and cannot do business with?

Democrats are cool with it too.

When it passed, 80% of the democrats in the Senate voted YES for the Immigration Control and Reform Act of 1986; which is the law that makes it illegal for business to hire undocumented people. It was later signed into law by Reagan. More Democrats actually voted yes for that bill than Republicans. The bill was even introduced into the house by a Democrat.

What a 180 the left has done on immigration.

[–] LostSoul8765@lemmy.world 11 points 13 hours ago

Will this apply to existing accounts? Will they have an online portal to submit scans of these documents or will they need to see the original copy? I can't afford to fly 2,600 miles to my nearest credit union branch with my birth certificate in my carry-on bag. This is draconian and completely unnecessary.

[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 6 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I wonder if the goal is to push more people into crypto to prop it up?

The goal is to fuck over immigrants and poor people, and they don't care who ends up as collateral damage.

[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 21 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

The article makes it sound like Trump's racism against Somais and hatred of Ilhan Omar has a basis in fact and sanewashes his invasion of US cities by armed goons. Not unusual for the often-shoddy journalism of the oligarch-owned Independent.

One thing that is correct that many people posting here seem not to understand is that there is no current residency requirement to open a bank account in the US. Some banks will refuse because of their own policies, but that's it. You have to prove your identity, not your lawful residency status.

[–] pupbiru@aussie.zone 2 points 6 hours ago

One thing that is correct that many people posting here seem not to understand is that there is no current residency requirement to open a bank account in the US

okay… but… why is that a problem?

[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 47 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Yeah that’s gonna generate an absolute shitload of lawsuits.

Also, way to go speeding the shift away from the USD as the de facto global reserve currency. Jesus tapdancing christ.

[–] IronBird@lemmy.world 13 points 18 hours ago

this is their goal, they're trying to collapse the US economy. disaster capitalism is all that's left when all other fields are taken/captured by effective monopolies. there's no room for organic growth, just smashing shit to the ground and buying up distressed assets on the cheap

we have done this boom/bust cycle many times now

[–] Cort@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago

Draining the courts' resources AND make daddy putin happy, sounds like a win-win for Trump

[–] Paragone@lemmy.world 41 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'm certain that suddenly de-banking all green-card holders will .. do wonders for the US's innovation-position, globally .. won't it?


Ideology masquerading as "thinking" never legislates properly.

Bullying idiots, with their oversimplification "reality" they're doing their bullying in.

_ /\ _

[–] OwOarchist@pawb.social 19 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Corporations are not citizens, so all corporate accounts are toast as well, right?

[–] Tiger666@lemmy.ca 4 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (1 children)

Corporations have the same rights as human beings. Corporations are in fact, in the eyes of the law, people.

[–] OwOarchist@pawb.social 3 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

Corporations are in fact, in the eyes of the law, people.

People, sure. But are they Citizens? They can't vote, they can't run for or hold office, so it seems they aren't.

[–] Tiger666@lemmy.ca 2 points 8 hours ago

What is a superPAC?

[–] __Lost__@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Ooh, don't say that out loud, citizens united might hear you

[–] OwOarchist@pawb.social 2 points 13 hours ago

In 20 years, we'll be hearing President Amazon's state of the union address, followed by a rebuttal from Senator Walmart.

[–] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Of course not, just like rich non-citizens will have exceptions made for them. The rules only apply to the poors.

[–] 9tr6gyp3@lemmy.world 90 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Damn, thats crazy.

Did he release all the Epstein files yet?

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

no, but he likes to uses EOs as distraction from epstein.

[–] village604@adultswim.fan 2 points 11 hours ago

I think that's backwards. If anything the files are the distraction from the fascist takeover of the country.

[–] oddpixel@lemmy.wtf 57 points 1 day ago (5 children)

Let's pretend this passes and becomes law. Now imagine a nationwide call for people to do a run on their bank, and pull out all their money. Even when the banks try to limit withdrawals, it doesn't mean you can't come back at some point and keep withdrawing.

Not everyone would do it, but eventually the news would be running in panic mode, as would investors.

I'd imagine the banks would be keen to demand a reversal of the law real quick..

[–] WoodScientist@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You wouldn't even need to organize some mass campaign to get people to pull money out. This thing will trigger a bank run all on its own. Do you think the banks have enough reserves to immediately cash out the accounts of every non-citizen? Sometimes a bank decides it doesn't want to do business with someone anymore and will close their account. If that happens to you, they send you a check with your account balance on it. But we're talking tens of millions of people here, many with substantial amounts in US accounts. This order, if implemented, would cause every bank in the country to collapse. They just don't maintain the reserves to cash out that many accounts all at once.

[–] Jack_Burton@lemmy.ca 8 points 18 hours ago

This is the end-game takeover part and it's all about consolidation of government into the hands of corporations. Collapse every bank but don't worry, TrumpBank will suddenly be there to take on all customers with the US Treasury backing it, funneling all banking in the country into one institution to consolidate control.

I've spent the last few years feeling like the old tinfoil hat conspiracy theorist stereotype, even when these things prove true. Even typing out this shit makes me feel it again. There was a time when something like this was absurd, now, well...

[–] ohellidk@sh.itjust.works 24 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If only people worked together like that, we'd do amazing things.

[–] teawrecks@sopuli.xyz 2 points 9 hours ago

If your bank is legally required to unilaterally take your wealth from you at the whim of Trump, everyone with wealth will put it elsewhere. Historically, bank runs are much harder to stop than start.

The same concern looms over govts threatening to sieze accounts that belong to the Kremlin over Ukraine. If anyone does it, they are implicitly signaling to their other clients that their funds are not safe from political strife.

[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 5 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Let’s pretend this passes and becomes law.

It's en executive order. Nothing to pass, and it probably will get defeated in court unless they can venue-shop and route it to a corrupt judge.

[–] TehWorld@lemmy.world 3 points 18 hours ago

Aileen is pretty busy these days I hear.

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[–] mracton@piefed.social 51 points 1 day ago (2 children)

It’s long past time to kill executive orders. Even the times they are used for good, they are often legally dubious and live on the whims of the courts.

[–] RestrictedAccount@lemmy.world 3 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

You can’t really kill them. Technically it’s just the President saying do X or Y.

On their own, they have no effect in law.

They only instruct the Executive Branch on how to operate WITHIN existing law.

[–] BananaIsABerry@lemmy.zip 3 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

The executive branch seems a bit... Too expanded if that's the case.

[–] RestrictedAccount@lemmy.world 2 points 8 hours ago

Well much of what he is ordering is already illegal. So passing more laws sort of justifies his lawlessness.

[–] just2look@lemmy.zip 40 points 1 day ago (1 children)

They need to go back to what they were originally intended to be. It wasn't supposed to be a way to enact new laws, it was meant to give agencies direction on how to go about enacting and enforcing laws passed by congress.

The whole system is broken and corrupt though. So no simple fixes for any of the issues unless you consider tear it all down and start fresh as simple.

[–] OwOarchist@pawb.social 20 points 1 day ago (2 children)

It wasn’t supposed to be a way to enact new laws, it was meant to give agencies direction on how to go about enacting and enforcing laws passed by congress.

EOs should be considered dead on arrival and unenforceable unless they begin and end by listing which laws passed by Congress they're meant to enforce and enact.

[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 6 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

The problem isn't citations, it's the legislative branch and the courts not doing their duty of oversight.

[–] TehWorld@lemmy.world 3 points 18 hours ago

Yep. The courts could sort of solve this with a large rubber stamp that says “Nope”, but our court system has been replaced by a tall Australian Marsupial.

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[–] dogslayeggs@lemmy.world 33 points 1 day ago (7 children)

So what would happen to all of those bank accounts of people on work visas?

[–] village604@adultswim.fan 1 points 11 hours ago

They'd go to corporate bonuses.

[–] ccunning@lemmy.world 29 points 1 day ago (1 children)

…or legal permanent residents…

[–] Tinks@lemmy.world 26 points 1 day ago (8 children)

Seriously! Anyone who thinks about this for half a second realizes the repercussions of only allowing US citizens bank accounts. Are we just eliminating immigration entirely now? Immigrants have to prove that they are financially self-sufficient and doing that without a bank account is... effectively impossible. Every legal permanent resident would be immediately unable to function in society. Most jobs require direct deposit into a bank account these days and won't issue paper checks. How do you even pay rent or a mortgage without a bank account.

It would be absolute chaos.

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[–] Witchfire@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago (3 children)

So if someone is a permanent resident are they just expected to keep their money under their mattress?

[–] pivot_root@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

Their what now? That's ICE's money. After the pulled the immigrant out of his bed, that money was just laying there. Nobody owns it, so it's finders keepers. /s

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[–] 11111one11111@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Do you want to collect less in taxes? Cuz this is how you encourage cash under the table compensation agreements. Fuck it, make it a law you have to be a citizen to own a home, trade stocks and buy anything that is not food. Ill get my citizenship from Niue where they have an average annual population growth rate of 1 person per year and ill go full on undocumented illegal who follows the lae by not paying taxes!

[–] Mirshe@lemmy.world 3 points 19 hours ago

be a citizen to own a home, etc

That's part of the point, eventually. You just start narrowing who's a "citizen" from there. It's why they want to get rid of birthright citizenship so badly, because then you can make up whatever test you like, and potentially even say "alright, NOBODY is a citizen unless you go and present yourself for racial profiling/pass a test/etc" or whatever.

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