ICE, Department of State host anti-money laundering international symposium in Mexico City

Every trained law enforcement investigator will tell you the best way to dismantle a criminal enterprise is to seize its ill-gotten gains. To do that, they must follow the money trail to find out where it’s hidden and how it was laundered.

Special agents, investigators and attorneys gathered in Mexico City for a three-day law enforcement symposium to collaborate and share information on current money laundering trends. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Attaché Office in Mexico City and the Department of State’s (DOS) Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) hosted the symposium that ended Thursday.  

Ten law enforcement agencies representing the United States, Mexico, El Salvador and Italy provided training to the more than 100 attendees. Among the most notable topics of discussion, was the government of Mexico’s newly created “blacklist” of kingpins involved in money laundering. The “blacklist”, which mirrors the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control’s Kingpin Designation Act, is only available to financial institutions and assists in identifying suspicious money trails.

Law enforcement officials from the regions of Tijuana, Hermosillo, Ciudad Juarez, Monterrey, Matamoros and Merida also attended the symposium.