‘It’s discrimination’: US Small Business Administration cuts off loans to immigrant entrepreneurs
Green card holders are now ineligible for loans through the SBA as agency carries out Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda
Published in The Guardian on March 5, 2026
The US federal agency in charge of helping small businesses has cut off an essential line of funding for immigrant entrepreneurs for the first time in the agency’s history.
Legal residents, or green card holders, are now ineligible for loans backed by the Small Business Administration (SBA). The change was first announced in February and comes as the agency carries out an “America First” agenda under SBA administrator Kelly Loeffler, a billionaire and staunch Donald Trump loyalist who was appointed last February.