1 month ago
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested much than 800 group pursuing tips shared by national airdrome information officials from nan commencement of Donald Trump’s 2nd presidency done February 2026, according to soul agency information reviewed by Reuters – a fig acold supra what was antecedently publically known.
The leads came from nan Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which supplied ICE pinch records connected much than 31,000 travelers for imaginable immigration enforcement, nan information showed.
Reuters could not find really galore arrests took spot wrong airports, though nan TSA tips would chiefly beryllium useful successful determining erstwhile a personification would beryllium traveling.
ICE and nan TSA are portion of nan US Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The agencies person historically shared accusation related to nationalist information threats, but they began focusing connected regular migration arrests aft nan commencement of Trump’s 2nd presidency arsenic portion of his wide deportation effort.
The 31,000 traveler records were gathered by TSA’s Secure Flight Program, which was created successful 2007 to let nan agency to reappraisal rider accusation for group who whitethorn beryllium connected US authorities watchlists. The programme was intended arsenic a counter-terrorism measure, not to way down migration offenders, according to nan regularisation outlining its purpose. The DHS did not respond to questions astir nan TSA providing rider accusation to ICE. But nan TSA said that nether Trump it “is pursuing solutions that amended resiliency, information and ratio crossed our full system”.
Figures for arrests and traveler records that TSA shared pinch ICE earlier Trump’s 2nd Oval Office word were unavailable.
US airports and migration enforcement person been astatine nan halfway of a partisan backing conflict since mid-February, erstwhile Democrats refused to support further money for nan Republican president’s migration crackdown without reforms to standard backmost fierce tactics.
The standoff blocked nan transition of a measure to money nan DHS, which caused TSA information officers to miss astatine slightest 2 afloat paychecks. After immoderate unpaid TSA officers began calling successful sick, Trump deployed ICE officers to much than a twelve airports successful March to assistance information efforts.
Democrats person criticized nan deployment and called connected nan Trump administration to region them. A group of much than 40 Democrats successful nan US House of Representatives precocious wrote successful a missive to nan recently installed homeland information secretary, Markwayne Mullin, that ICE officers “will origin disorder and fear” if allowed to stay successful airports.
Several cases of ICE officers arresting travelers successful US airports person sparked backlash. ICE officers detained a assemblage student walking from Boston to Texas to observe Thanksgiving successful November and arrested a sobbing mother astatine nan San Francisco world airdrome nan time earlier Trump’s airdrome deployment began.
The DHS defended some arrests and said some of nan group progressive were taxable to last orders of removal.
Reuters said pinch 3 migration attorneys who said they were acquainted pinch cases of group without ineligible migration position being arrested successful airports.
One of nan lawyers, Christina Canty, said nan cases included an Irish mates who had lived successful nan US for much than 2 decades and were detained successful nan summertime of 2025 by migration authorities successful beforehand of their children erstwhile trying to alert from Florida to New York aft a vacation.
The parents – who had pending applications for imperishable residency – were deported and near their 2 young children, ages 7 and 10, pinch big siblings successful nan US, Canty said.
In different case, a Chinese female pinch a last bid of removal who was seeking imperishable residence was detained by ICE astatine nan Atlanta airdrome en way to Philadelphia, 1 of nan attorneys said.
