The Trump administration's crackdown on money laundering near the US-Mexico border has hit small immigrant-serving businesses hard rather than the cartels it targeted, according to business owners and legal experts. Since April, the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has required financial-service providers in the region to report cash transactions over $200, down from the previous $10,000 threshold, forcing them to collect customers' addresses, Social Security numbers and other personal data.

Businesses such as Nachita's Grocery, a family-run El Paso store that has long offered money transfers alongside groceries, have seen demand collapse as customers, fearful of surveillance or immigration enforcement, avoid using the service. Elderly and disabled residents can no longer pay bills in person, renters struggle to buy money orders, and queues for sending remittances to Mexico have shrunk dramatically, according to owner Evangelina Ornelas, who says the policy has hurt ordinary families rather than curbing illicit activity.