Remittances down, number of senders reduced

President Donald Trump’s immigration clamp down in the United States of America (USA) is affecting the local economy, and although Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Camillo Gonsalves said there is growing economic optimism here, the country is facing a troubling dip in remittances.

Speaking on WE FM’s Issue at Hand programme on Sunday, May 25,2025 the finance minister said the decrease in remittances, as recorded by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), is attributed to intensified U.S. immigration enforcement where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are camped out near money transfer outlets in key U.S. cities with Vincentian populations.

“Remittances are down,” Gonsalves said frankly. “And the working theory we have right now is that it is because of the United States’ current crackdown on migrants. ICE is essentially camped outside of Western Unions and MoneyGram offices. They have not yet explicitly targeted Caribbean nationals, but the fear is very real.”

It was noted that the financial volume of individual transactions remains stable, but, the overall number of senders has declined significantly.

Gonsalves said that both undocumented and documented migrants are increasingly hesitant to frequent money transfer locations for fear of being detained or profiled.

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