TSA was built to stop terrorists. Now it’s helping deport immigrants
A new report found that the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) has given Immigration and Customs Enforcement thousands of tips about immigrant travelers, resulting in hundreds of arrests since President Donald Trump began his second term in office.
The Reuters report found that from January 2024 to February 2026, ICE agents arrested more than 800 people using TSA data. The report did not state how many arrests occurred at airports but said that the TSA provided records on more than 31,000 travelers for possible immigration enforcement.
Before Reuters published its findings, The New York Times reported that the TSA was assisting ICE in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. However, the number of those arrested because of that data was never fully uncovered until now.
Who has ICE arrested?
Reuters reports several instances of ICE arresting flyers in airports, including a college student traveling from Boston to Texas for Thanksgiving. Customs and Border Protection agents arrested the student, who The Times previously identified as 19-year-old Any Lucía López Belloza, while she was trying to board a plane in Boston. She said she had no issue getting her boarding pass and making it through security, but the ticket attendant couldn’t let her through when she tried to board her flight..
López said she noticed when the attendant scanned her ticket, a large “X” appeared on the screen, and she was told she had to go to customer service. She told The Times that agents were waiting for her at the customer service counter.
“Oh, you’re Any,” one of the agents asked her, she told The Times. Records recovered by the publication show CBP agents originally detained López.
“He was like, ‘Well, you’re going to come with us. You’re going to be filling a bunch of paperwork,’” she told The Times. “I was like, ‘Well, I have to be boarding the plane because I have to leave right now.’ And he was like, Well, I don’t think you’re even going to be on that flight.’”
According to The Times, López was subject to a prior deportation order. In 2018, immigration officials referred López’s case to ICE for a potential arrest. However, she had no criminal record, prompting criticism of her arrest. She is currently in Honduras, trying to find a way to transfer classes, The Times reports.
Did officials design the program for this?
The TSA program that flagged López and hundreds of others wasn’t meant for immigration enforcement but instead counterterrorism. After the 9/11 terror attacks, Congress used safety recommendations to create the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, mandating the Department of Homeland Security to oversee airline passenger watchlist screening from the airlines.
The program formally launched in 2007 and became fully operational across all domestic and international flights by November 2010. DHS did not respond to Reuters’ questions but said the TSA under Trump “is pursuing solutions that improve resiliency, security, and efficiency across our entire system.”
Federal immigration agents have had a more visible role in airports over the last few weeks following Congress’ failure to reach a compromise on a DHS funding bill, leading to a partial government shutdown. This meant TSA agents would be required to work without pay. After thousands began calling out of work and others quitting, Trump called in ICE agents to support the TSA at about a dozen major airports across the country.
Where else has ICE sought data?
Airline data isn’t the only information immigration officials have sought to help them in deportation efforts. The Trump administration has also tried to access immigration information through the IRS, an effort that courts later struck down.
In July, the administration announced it would provide Medicaid recipients’ personal data to immigration enforcement officials to search for immigrants possibly in the U.S. illegally. According to the agreement, ICE will receive the personal data of 79 million people, which includes where they live and their ethnicity.
“ICE will use the CMS data to allow ICE to receive identity and location information on aliens identified by ICE,” the agreement signed between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and DHS states.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
