ICE is using air passenger data for deportation effort

WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): The Trump administration is providing the names of all air travelers to immigration officials, substantially expanding its use of data sharing to expel people under deportation orders, according to a New York Times report.

Under the previously undisclosed program, the Transportation Security Administration provides a list multiple times a week to Immigration and Customs Enforcement of travelers who will be coming through airports. ICE can then match the list against its own database of people subject to deportation and send agents to the airport to detain those people.

It’s unclear how many arrests have been made as a result of the collaboration. But documents obtained by The New York Times show that it led to the arrest of Any Lucía López Belloza, the college student picked up at Boston Logan Airport on Nov. 20 and deported to Honduras two days later. A former ICE official said 75 percent of instances in that official’s region where names were flagged by the program yielded arrests.

ICE has historically 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 increasing cooperation and information sharing between federal agencies in service of the president’s goal of carrying out the largest deportation campaign in U.S. history.

“The message to those in the country illegally is clear: The only reason you should be flying is to self-deport home,” said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security.

Airline passengers have long been subject to some federal scrutiny. Airlines typically provide passenger information to T.S.A. after a flight is reserved. That information is compared against national security databases, including the Terrorist Screening Dataset, which includes the names of individuals on a watch list of known or suspected terrorists.

But the T.S.A. previously did not get involved in domestic criminal or immigration matters, said one former agency official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the issue freely. Among the concerns, the former official said, has been that enforcement activities at airports could distract from airport security and contribute to longer passenger wait times.

“If you have more officers conducting arrests at airports, it puts more strain on the system, delays and complications may annoy and frighten some travelers, and those who are unsure about their status will move away from air travel,” said Claire Trickler-McNulty, a senior ICE official during the Biden administration. “It will continue to reduce the space where people feel safe going about their business.”

The push to ramp up enforcement is pervasive inside the Department of Homeland Security, which houses both ICE and the T.S.A. Earlier this year, Stephen Miller, a top White House official, floated a goal of 3,000 immigration arrests a day and met with top ICE officials about how to increase deportations. Some former ICE officials said the program would be a huge help to an agency struggling to meet the numbers of deportations sought by the Trump administration.

“The administration has turned routine travel into a force multiplier for removals, potentially identifying thousands who thought they could evade the law simply by boarding a plane,” said Scott Mechkowski, the former deputy head of the ICE office in New York City. “This isn’t about fear; it’s about restoring order and ensuring every American knows their government enforces its laws without apology.”

Activists blasted the airport deportation program as one intended to frighten immigrants. “This is another attempt to terrorize and punish communities and will make people terrified to ever leave their homes for fear of being unjustly detained and disappeared out of the country before they have a chance to contest the detention,” said Robyn Barnard, senior director of refugee advocacy at Human Rights First, an immigrant advocacy organization.
(Edited)