TSA Shares Domestic Passenger Lists with ICE for Deportations

The Transportation Security Administration has been sharing lists of domestic air travelers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement since March, enabling agents to identify and detain individuals subject to deportation orders at U.S. airports. The previously undisclosed program, which involves providing passenger names, photographs, and flight details multiple times a week, marks an expansion of federal data-sharing efforts to support immigration enforcement.

Under the arrangement, ICE cross-references the TSA-provided lists against its database of people with deportation orders and dispatches agents to airports to make arrests. Documents indicate that the program has facilitated detentions before travelers can board flights or challenge their status. A notable case involved Any Lucía López Belloza, a 19-year-old college student from Honduras who had lived in the United States since age 7. She was arrested at Boston's Logan International Airport on November 20 while preparing to visit family for Thanksgiving and was deported to Honduras two days later, despite a federal judge's ruling on November 21 that she should not be removed.

The collaboration blurs the traditional...