JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon criticized the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown on Wednesday as ICE agents continued to round up those believed to be in the country illegally.
″I don’t like what I’m seeing, five grown men beating up a little old lady,” Dimon told a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday.
“So I think we should calm down a little bit on the internal anger about immigration.”
It is unclear which specific incident Dimon was referring to. The Post has sought clarification from JPMorgan.
Dimon, whose comments were reported by CNBC, said he wanted to know more about the individuals being detained by ICE.
“Are they here legally? Are they criminals? … Did they break American law?” he said, adding: “We need these people.”
“They work in our hospitals and hotels and restaurants and agriculture, and they’re good people,” the 69-year-old head of the nation’s largest lender said.
“They should be treated that way.”
Dimon said that he thought the Trump administration should offer a path to citizenship “for hardworking people” and “proper asylum” opportunities.
“I think he can, because he controlled the borders,” Dimon said.
When Dimon was asked about other CEOs being hesitant to criticize President Trump, the JPMorgan chief replied: “I think they should change their approach to immigration.”
“I’ve said it. What the hell else do you want me to say?”
The Post has sought comment from the White House.
Dimon has praised President Trump for stanching the flow of migrants who were pouring into the country during the Biden administration.
In his 2024 annual shareholder letter, Dimon criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the southern border — warning that it was undermining confidence in the immigration system.
Dimon said Americans’ frustration is not aimed at immigrants themselves, but at Washington’s failure to enforce border laws, writing in a 2023 report that people are “angry that America has not implemented proper border control and immigration policies.”
Dimon’s relationship with Trump has swung between pragmatic engagement and public friction, with the JPMorgan CEO at times praising Trump’s pro-business instincts while increasingly breaking with him on policy.
Trump has previously floated Dimon for top economic roles, including Treasury secretary, before the two men clashed over the Federal Reserve, banking regulation and now immigration enforcement.
The tension escalated earlier this month after Dimon publicly warned that the Trump Justice Department’s criminal probe into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell risks undermining the central bank’s independence, comments Trump dismissed outright as “wrong.”
Dimon cautioned that political pressure on the Fed could backfire by raising inflation expectations and interest rates — a view echoed by other Wall Street executives.
JPMorgan has also pushed back against Trump’s economic agenda, particularly his proposal to cap credit card interest rates at 10% for a year.
Bank executives have warned the plan could restrict access to credit, hurt consumers and disrupt the broader financial system, putting the nation’s largest bank squarely at odds with the White House.
Trump recently threatened to sue JPMorgan over what he has described as being “debanked” after the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, accusing the nation’s largest bank of abruptly closing his accounts under pressure from Biden-era regulators.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said JPMorgan “incorrectly and inappropriately DEBANKED” him after decades as a customer, claiming the bank gave him just 20 days to move hundreds of millions of dollars — a decision he has framed as political punishment and vowed to challenge in court.
