New Delhi, July 14 -- WASHINGTON - Three federal bank regulators issued coordinated guidance on Monday designating borrowers who lack legal work authorization as carrying "elevated credit risk" in a directive that could, if broadly implemented, begin to close the doors of the American financial system to millions of people who have paid mortgages, maintained credit cards, and accumulated savings for years without a missed payment.

three separate agencies, one unified supervisory signal, released on the same day.

Jonathan Gould, the Comptroller of the Currency installed by President Donald Trump, made the political underpinning explicit. "President Trump has made restoring integrity to America's financial system a priority," Gould said i...