TSA Shares Passenger Lists with ICE for Mass Deportations

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has begun providing passenger lists of all airline travelers to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) several times per week. This data-sharing program, which started in March, allows ICE to cross-reference traveler names with databases of individuals subject to deportation and deploy agents to airports for arrests.

Coordinated through the Pacific Enforcement Response Center in California, the initiative has led to several detentions. Notable cases include the arrest of Marta Brizeyda Renderos Leiva in Salt Lake City and the detention of 19-year-old Babson College student Any Lucía López Belloza at Boston Logan Airport on November 20, who was deported to Honduras two days later.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defended the program as a reversal of previous policies that permitted undocumented immigrants to fly domestically without identification. This effort is part of a broader strategy by the administration of Donald Trump to utilize federal data from the IRS, Veterans Affairs, and SNAP benefits to reach a goal of 3,000 arrests per day. Human Rights First condemned the tactic, arguing it terrorizes immigrant communities and creates a fear of leaving home due to the risk of arbitrary detention.