Somalis on welfare will need to think twice about wiring money to relatives back home. U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent has announced that the Trump administration is monitoring foreign remittances by those using public assistance.
According to recent data, Somalia received $2.12 billion in remittances in 2024 alone.
Bessent told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, “We are here to follow the money because that’s what Treasury does.”
“We did it with the mafia, we have done it with the cartels, and now we are going to do it with these Somali fraudsters,” Bessent explained. “Treasury has something called FinCEN, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, and we are coming in.”
FinCEN will issue a Geographic Targeting Order imposing new identification and record-keeping requirements and engaging in enhanced surveillance.
“There’s something called a Suspicious Activity Report if a certain amount of money gets wired,” Bessent explained.
FinCEN guidance released in October states that financial institutions must “file a SAR if the institution knows, suspects, or has reason to suspect that the transaction or series of transactions are designed to evade [currency transaction reporting] requirements.”
Bessent told Ingraham that “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.”
“If you are on public assistance, we are going to start pushing that you cannot wire money out of the country,” added Bessent. “Our generosity has been taken advantage of.”
Bessent says Treasury will now require anyone that is sending money out of USA to check a box — if you’re on PUBLIC ASSISTANCE wiring money OUT?! YOU ARE FLAGGED as either not needing the $ — or as a potential CRIMINAL. 💥pic.twitter.com/JgKYosZ3Jg
— Trish Regan (@trish_regan) January 9, 2026
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