Federal agencies integrate Americans' bank records into secretive surveillance and policing programs, court documents reveal

Federal agencies are expanding financial surveillance of Americans and using bank-related data to support everyday policing, according to court documents and cited investigations. A DHS Border Patrol targeting team reportedly cross-referenced a California marijuana farmer's banking data with arrest records before referring him to Montana police, who pulled him over and searched him under a different stated pretext. The case also exposes broader networks in which Border Patrol and ICE use license plate data and alleged "patterns of life" to identify drivers. Separately, Treasury's FinCEN has required money-transfer businesses in border counties to report major transactions and watch for transfers involving suspected undocumented immigrants. Courts have challenged these orders, citing arbitrary requirements and severe compliance costs, but Treasury has reissued them in jurisdictions outside the controlling appellate authority. The agencies have not explained how DHS obtained private bank records, raising concerns about secrecy, due process, privacy, and the use of financial databases in policing.