Efrén Olivares, the vice president of litigation and legal strategy at the National Immigrant Law Center, notes that if non-citizens were unable to access U.S. banks due to the potential new requirement, the American economy could also take a hit.
“A lot of people who are not citizens, who are here on business visas, on tourist visas, on investor visas, do not have citizenship, are not local permanent residents, but they bring millions and millions and probably billions of dollars to this country’s economy,” Olivares tells TIME.
He adds that a portion of American citizens could also be shut out from banks if such a requirement were put in place.
A 2023 Brennan Center for Justice survey found that roughly 21.3 million voting-age citizens––or 9.1 percent––do not have documents proving their citizenship easily available to them.
“Depending on how this Executive Order reads, it may really prevent many U.S. citizens who do not have a passport, who do not have a driver’s license, who do not have a valid ID, from opening up a bank account,” he adds.
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