Mexico City: Mexico will analyse the potential impact on remittances of a new US executive order that would restrict undocumented migrants’ access to US financial services, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said.
At her daily press conference, reporters asked Sheinbaum whether the US measure would affect the flow of remittances — the money that Mexicans working in the United States send to their families back home, Xinhua news agency reported.
According to Sheinbaum, the finance ministry and Mexico’s newly appointed ambassador to the United States, Roberto Lazzeri, are analysing the measure jointly, but so far they have concluded there is “no major risk.”
The US executive order tightens oversight of cross-border transfers and of identifications used to open bank accounts or apply for other banking services.
US President Donald Trump’s latest immigration move could now bring banks and financial records into the centre of US immigration enforcement, potentially increasing scrutiny for some immigrants.
Trump on May 19 signed an executive order directing banks and financial regulators to examine “red flags” linked to customers’ immigration and citizenship status as part of a broader crackdown on undocumented immigration, according to the White House.
“Many of those borrowers face the possibility of the loss of wages due to removal or their employers’ decisions to comply with immigration law. Lending to aliens without legal work authorization or who face a substantial loss-of-wage risk creates a structural “ability to repay” deficiency that undermines the safety and soundness of the national banking system,” Trump said in a press release.
Meanwhile, the US Congress is considering a proposal to impose a 5 per cent tax on remittances. Currently, only cash-based transfers are subject to a 1 per cent tax.
Mexican officials argue that such a measure would be tantamount to “double taxation,” since Mexican migrants already pay taxes in the United States.
Remittances are among Mexico’s largest sources of foreign currency inflows.
(IANS)
