Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a new tool at its disposal as the Trump administration cracks down on illegal immigration.
The Transportation Security Administration has been sending airline passenger data to ICE since March, which immigration agents can then use to make arrests at airports. ICE cross-checks those names against its own immigration databases and deploys agents to detain people it says are subject to deportation.
Public reporting does not show TSA screeners running new immigration status checks on everyone at the checkpoint. The controversy is that the airport security pipeline is being used as a chokepoint for immigration enforcement, and critics say the public was not told this was happening.
The New York Times reported this data-sharing program may have led to a college student’s arrest at Boston’s Logan Airport and deportation to Honduras before Thanksgiving.
The Department of Homeland Security has defended the program, saying it is routine information sharing inside one department and calling it nothing new. The agency also framed it as a reversal of what it calls a Biden-era policy on flying without an ID.
This is all coming to light after DHS announced plans last week to possibly require foreign visitors to turn over five years of social media data before coming to the U.S.
