JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Wednesday he disagrees with President Donald Trump’s approach to immigration, offering a rare public rebuke by an American corporate leader for one of Trump’s signature policies.
Speaking at a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Dimon initially praised Trump’s steps to secure the borders of the world’s largest economy. Illegal crossings at the US-Mexico border fell to the lowest level in 50 years in the period from October 2024 to September 2025, the BBC reported, citing federal data.
But Dimon, who has long advocated immigration reform to boost US economic growth, also made an apparent reference to videos of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers rounding up people accused of being undocumented immigrants.
““I don’t like what I’m seeing, five grown men beating up little women,” Dimon said. “So I think we need to calm down a little bit on the internal anger about immigration.”
It is unclear whether Dimon was speaking about a specific incident, or more broadly. About ICE confrontation.
In the first year of his second term, Trump has changed US immigration policy, focusing on mass deportations, tightening asylum access, and increasing spending for ICE personnel and facilities. Amid a flurry of new policies that changed the landscape for obtaining US citizenship, the administration also rescinded guidelines on where ICE arrests could take place, leading to raids on schools, hospitals and places of worship.
Unlike Trump’s first term, US CEOs have mostly avoided public criticism of their policies. Wall Street analysts have speculated that business leaders fear retribution from the Trump administration, which has sued media companies, universities and law firms, and instead opted to appeal to the president away from the public spotlight.
On Wednesday, Dimon said he wanted to know more about who was being caught in ICE raids: “Are they here legally? Are they criminals? … Have they broken American law?”
“We need these guys,” Dimon said. “They work in our hospitals and hotels and restaurants and in agriculture, and they are good people… They should be treated that way.”
‘Atmosphere of fear’
For years, in annual shareholder letters and media interviews, Dimon has cited immigration overhaul as one of the main pathways to unlocking higher US economic growth.
The veteran CEO of JPMorgan, the world’s largest bank by market cap, has previously supported a merit-based system for citizenship, along with green cards for people brought to the US as children, and has pushed back on proposals to limit H-1B visas.
On Wednesday, Dimon urged Trump to allow opportunities for “citizenship for hard-working people” and “fair asylum.”
“I think he can do that because he’s controlled the boundaries,” Dimon said.
Later in the wide-ranging interview, The Economist editor-in-chief Zane Minton Beddoes told Dimon that she was surprised by how careful he and other CEOs were in speaking about Trump.
“You’re one of the more outspoken business leaders,” Beddoes said. “I’m really surprised by the reluctance of CEOs in America to say anything critical. There is a climate of fear in your country.”
Dimon pushed back, saying he expressed his views about Trump’s tariffs, immigration policies and stance toward European allies.
“I think they should change their approach to immigration,” Dimon said. “I’ve said it. What else do you want me to say?”
