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2.0

Reported: Arizona Attorney General Limits ICE Access to Financial Records

  1. Original Date Announced

    August 18, 2025

    Visaverge reports that ICE used the Transaction Record Analysis Center (TRAC), a nonprofit database created to fight cash smuggling and money laundering, to arrest a Hawaii resident after he sent money to relatives in Mexico. Commentators have deemed this to be "among the first known cases where agents used money transfer information . . . to locate a target."

    TRAC started pursuant to a settlement in 2010 between Western Union and the State of Arizona. In 2023, an investigation by Senator Ron Wyden revealed that ICE and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) were issuing subpoenas to TRAC under the Biden Administration, a practice subsequently terminated. Nonetheless, companies continued to provide information to TRAC, and the reporting is that ICE uses TRAC for immigration enforcement and deportation actions under the second Trump administration.

    Trump 2.0 [ID #1984]

    2025.08.18 ICE Used Remittance Records To Arrest Immigrant Who Sent Cash Home - Visaverge
  2. Effective Date

    September 15, 2025
  3. Subsequent Trump and Court Action

    September 15, 2025

    2025.09.15 Many ICE Agents Lose Ability to Spy on Immigrants' Payments to Family Back Home - The Intercept

    Following public records requests by The Intercept, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced that in late June, "agents from ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) . . . wing have been 'de-platformed'" and that agents and officials who misused the data were also barred from accessing TRAC. Mayes said she continued to "support the use of this data to assist law enforcement in our mission of defeating transnational drug cartels," but that the "data is not and has never been intended to be used for immigration purposes.” According to Mayes' office, "until recently, TRAC users could select 'something else' as the predicate offense" when querying TRAC data, but "[t]his option has been removed, and TRAC users must now select a specific racketeering offense as defined under Arizona state law." A spokesperson stated that "[t]he AG’s Office is working with TRAC to implement additional restrictions to prevent the database from being used for immigration purposes."

    Trump 2.0 [ID #1984]

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Current Status

None

Original Trump Policy Status

Trump Administration Action: Change in Practice
Subject Matter: Detention Enforcement
Agencies Affected: ICE DHS State & Local Entities

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