Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent Bans Migrants on Welfare from Sending Cash Back Home



Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images

by Warner Todd Huston 12 Nov 2026

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is banning migrants who are on government assistance from sending any U.S. dollars outside the country.

The secretary is making his move as part of a crackdown on ⁠federal social benefits abuses in Minnesota, which includes audits by the Internal Revenue Service on some banks under suspicion of money laundering.

Bessent has been concerned that money sent back to Somalia by the Somali community in Minnesota has ended up in the hands of the Muslim terror group al-Shabaab. Bessent has now suggested these funds — called remittances — should come under closer scrutiny.

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JUST IN: Sec. Scott Bessent is now moving to BAN anyone that receives government assistance from wiring money out of the country after Somali fraudsters were caught in Minnesota

"If you are wiring out of the country, you're either getting TOO MUCH or you're part of this

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https://twitter.com/i/status/2120577755444117719

1:01 PM · Nov 11, 2026

“If you are wiring the money out of the country, one of two things must be true: you’re either getting too much money and your benefits must be cut, or you’re part of this conspiracy. Where did that money come from? We’re gonna find out,” Bessent said during an interview on Fox News.

“From now on, anyone who wires money out from one of these money service businesses has to check a box saying whether they are on public assistance,” he said.

“And if you are on public assistance, we are going to start pushing that you cannot wire money out of the country,” he added.

“Treasury will deploy all tools to bring an end to this egregious unchecked fraud and hold perpetrators to account,” Bessent added.

Still, Bessent said anyone who can prove where their money is coming from should be able to send their funds outside the U.S. with no worries, Reuters reported.

“I am here this week to signal the U.S. Treasury’s unwavering commitment to recovering stolen funds, prosecuting fraudulent criminals, preventing scandals like this from ever happening again, and investigating similar schemes state by state,” the secretary explained.

These remittances leach away as much as $200 billion from the U.S. economy as migrants — both legal and illegal — send money earned in the U.S. outside the country, according to FAIR.

https://www.breitbart.com/immigratio...ash-back-home/