The Trump administration is enacting new regulations to ensure illegal migrants don’t snag government-backed loans meant for American small business owners, the agency announced on Thursday.
The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced an upcoming policy requiring citizenship verification for loan applications, an action the agency argues will ensure only legal applicants are made available for the SBA programs. Once the rule goes into effect, lenders will be required to verify that applicant businesses are not owned completely or in part by any individual living illegally in the United States.
“Over the last four years, the record invasion of illegal aliens has jeopardized both the lives of American citizens and the livelihoods of American small business owners, who have each become victims of Joe Biden’s migrant crime spree,” SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said in a press release. “Under President Trump, the SBA is committed to putting American citizens first again – starting by ensuring that zero taxpayer dollars go to fund illegal aliens.”
The agency said the move falls in line with President Donald Trump’s executive order titled, “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders,” which calls for agencies to identify programs that provide public benefits to illegal migrants and take “all appropriate action” on corrective measures.
Illegal migrants were able to obtain the government-backed loans in the past due to “lax guardrails” under the Biden administration, according to the SBA.
The agency approved a $783,000 loan application in June 2024 for a small business that was nearly half-owned by an illegal migrant. An internal SBA audit in February identified the legal status of the applicant and successfully prevented the loan from being disbursed, not allowing a single dollar to go into the business.
The SBA also announced Thursday it will be relocating six of its regional offices out of jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, otherwise known as sanctuary cities. The agency will be moving offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, New York City and Seattle to areas that comply with federal immigration law, better serve the small business community and are more accessible.
“Today, I am pleased to announce that this agency will cut off access to loans for illegal aliens and relocate our regional offices out of sanctuary cities that reward criminal behavior,” Loeffler said. “We will return our focus to empowering legal, eligible business owners across the United States – in partnership with the municipalities who share this Administration’s commitment to secure borders and safe communities.”
The announcements mark the latest in the Trump administration’s unprecedented efforts to not only curb illegal immigration, but also ensure those living unlawfully in the country are not receiving taxpayer-funded benefits.
Trump, who has vowed to conduct the largest deportation operation in U.S. history, has deployed troops at the southern border to stem illegal migrant crossings and has deputized nearly every other federal agency with immigration enforcement authority. The Department of Justice has not only sued several major sanctuary jurisdictions for their laws restricting ICE cooperation, but has also pulled funding from sanctuary cities and called for investigations into the federal funding of organizations that provide assistance to illegal migrants.
Loeffler, a former U.S. senator from Georgia and a business owner herself, was nominated by Trump to lead the SBA in December 2024 and officially confirmed by the Senate in February.
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