Ninth Circuit Upholds Pause on $1,000 Cash-Report Rule in 30 Border Zip Codes
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 11
Ninth Circuit Upholds Pause on $1,000 Cash-Report Rule in 30 Border Zip Codes
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 11
Summary
A federal appeals court in July left in place an injunction blocking FinCEN from enforcing its border cash-reporting order for affected California businesses while related challenges continue.
The policy, launched in March 2025 to fight cartel money laundering, had slashed the reporting threshold from $10,000 to $200 before Treasury later raised it to $1,000.
Small money-service operators say even the higher threshold still buries bare-bones staffs in compliance work, scares off customers asked for Social Security numbers and addresses, and has gutted remittance, bill-pay and money-order business.
FinCEN expanded the geographic targeting order from 30 border zip codes to additional counties in March 2026, and an internal memo said 86 businesses had already filed 700,000 reports by Feb. 23.
The Ninth Circuit ruling is only part of the fight: judges have also blocked the policy for some Arizona and Texas plaintiffs, and a Fifth Circuit decision is still pending.