A newly released agreement shows how TSA and ICE exchange traveler information as federal immigration agents increasingly use airport check-in counters and boarding gates to locate people suspected of remaining in the country after their authorized stays expired.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Federal immigration agents have used Transportation Security Administration passenger information to identify and arrest hundreds of travelers at U.S. airports, according to newly disclosed records that provide a closer look at an expanding enforcement partnership between two components of the Department of Homeland Security.
An internal memorandum obtained by ABC News documents at least 27 airport arrests across nine or more states, from California to Virginia, although the document does not specify the period during which those detentions occurred. The arrests have taken place at airline check-in counters and boarding gates, turning ordinary domestic air travel into an opportunity for ICE to locate foreign nationals believed to have overstayed visas or otherwise lost lawful immigration status.
Some of those taken into custody had no criminal histories and were carrying valid work permits or parole documents, according to an immigration attorney who spoke with ABC News. The cases have heightened concerns among immigration lawyers representing visa holders and people with pending green card or other immigration applications, particularly because a routine trip can now trigger a review of a traveler’s legal status before departure.
The nonpartisan watchdog American Oversight obtained and released the 16-page memorandum of agreement after filing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking records about the arrangement. The agreement establishes rules governing how TSA and ICE may exchange, retain and use passenger information within DHS.
The memorandum cites the federal Secure Flight Final Rule, which governs the passenger data airlines transmit for security screening. Its stated purpose is to permit the exchange of agreed-upon information in support of national security, transportation security, law enforcement, immigration enforcement and border management.
Rosanna Berardi, a Buffalo-based immigration attorney, said ICE has long possessed the legal authority to arrest people subject to final removal orders or whose immigration status has expired. What has changed, she said, is the location and method used to find them.
Rather than relying primarily on surveillance, home visits or warrant operations, agents can work with TSA to identify passengers through name matches as they check in for flights or wait at their gates. Berardi said the practice effectively allows immigration officers to use airport screening systems as an enforcement tool.
DHS defended the collaboration, saying the Trump administration had “reversed the horrendous Biden-era policy that allowed aliens in our country illegally to jet around our country.”
The department added that, under President Donald Trump, it “will no longer tolerate” domestic air travel by people without lawful status unless they are traveling as part of an effort to leave the United States voluntarily.
The airport arrests disclosed in the memo represent only a portion of the enforcement activity attributed to the information-sharing arrangement. Internal ICE figures reviewed by Reuters showed that the agency arrested more than 800 people using TSA-generated leads between the beginning of Trump’s second term and February. Those leads were drawn from records involving more than 31,000 travelers.
The formal TSA-ICE agreement was signed in May 2025, according to reporting by CBS News. Its release has renewed scrutiny of testimony acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill gave Congress in January about the relationship between the agencies.
McNeill told lawmakers that TSA did not directly send information to ICE but helped immigration agents compare names against TSA-held data. Critics contend that the wording of the released agreement complicates that distinction because it expressly describes procedures for sharing and storing information between the two agencies.
American Oversight sued DHS and ICE the day after McNeill’s testimony in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. A subsequent joint status report filed in the case states that DHS identified 162 pages of potentially responsive records.
The disclosure comes as the White House presses ICE to increase the number of daily immigration arrests. Using passenger information allows the agency to locate people at predictable times and places, potentially avoiding the more resource-intensive surveillance and field operations traditionally required to find individuals with expired status or outstanding removal orders.
For travelers who are not U.S. citizens, however, the practice creates uncertainty even when they possess documents permitting them to work or remain temporarily in the country. Immigration attorneys are warning clients that domestic flights may expose them to detention while agents review their records, pending applications and current legal status.
Berardi said airport travel has effectively become a legal-status audit for foreign nationals, including visa holders and people awaiting decisions on permanent residency. Under the TSA-ICE partnership, information initially collected to screen passengers for transportation security can also lead immigration agents directly to a traveler at the ticket counter or boarding gate.
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