Donald Trump’s administration is providing the names of all airline passengers to immigration authorities, significantly expanding the use of data sharing to deport people facing deportation orders.
As part of this previously secret program, the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) provides Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with a list of the names of travelers who will transit through airports several times a week. ICE can then compare the list to its own database of people eligible for deportation and send agents to the airport to arrest those people.
It is unclear how many arrests were made as a result of this collaboration. But documents obtained by The New York Times show it led to the arrest of Any Lucía López Belloza, a student who was detained at Boston’s Logan International Airport on Nov. 20 and deported to Honduras two days later. A former ICE official said 75% of cases in his area where names were flagged by the program resulted in arrests.
Historically, ICE has avoided interfering with domestic travel. But the partnership between airport security and the immigration agency, which began quietly in March, is the latest way the Trump administration is stepping up cooperation and information sharing among federal agencies, in an effort to achieve the president’s goal of waging the largest deportation campaign in U.S. history.
“The message to those in the country illegally is clear: The only reason you are flying is to deport yourself back home,” said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security.
Airline passengers have long been subject to some federal oversight. Airlines provide passenger information to TSA after booking a flight. This information is compared to national security databases.
But the TSA has never been involved in domestic criminal or immigration matters, said a former agency official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Among the concerns, the former employee said, was that inspection activities at airports could distract from airport security and contribute to increased passenger wait times.
Activists have harshly criticized the airport’s deportation program, saying it aims to intimidate immigrants. “This is yet another attempt to terrorize and punish communities, and it will make people terrified to leave their homes for fear of being unjustly detained and disappearing from the country before they even have a chance to challenge their detention,” said Robyn Barnard, senior director of refugee advocacy at Human Rights First, an immigrant advocacy organization.
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