In a significant escalation of interior immigration enforcement, the Transportation Security Administration has routinely been providing full airline passenger lists to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The practice began in March and involves several transfers per week of traveler data from TSA to ICE. It is part of a broader effort by federal authorities to identify and detain people subject to deportation orders before they board flights.
Under this arrangement, TSA supplies the full names of passengers flying into, out of, or within the United States. ICE agents then match those lists against their own databases of noncitizens with outstanding deportation orders. If a traveler appears on ICE’s list, agents may be dispatched to an airport to detain them, potentially preventing travel and initiating removal proceedings.
Evidence shows this cooperation has produced real-world consequences. One documented case involved 19-year-old college student Any Lucía López Belloza, who was detained at Boston’s Logan International Airport on November 20 after her name appeared on ICE’s list as she attempted to board a flight home. Two days later, she was deported to Honduras.
A former ICE official stated that in their jurisdiction, approximately 75% of individuals flagged by the program were arrested—a rate indicating the data-sharing initiative’s effectiveness as an enforcement mechanism. This development occurs amid intensified federal immigration operations. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem recently highlighted “historic progress” in deportations, claiming over 600,000 deportations and nearly 2 million voluntary departures have occurred since early 2025.
The practice has sparked debate about civil liberties and privacy. Critics argue that handing over passenger lists to an enforcement agency without individualized warrants or judicial oversight raises serious constitutional concerns, particularly regarding unreasonable searches and seizures. They also warn of the risk of mistaken identity and the potential for ICE to detain people with tenuous ties to the deportation system. Proponents defend the data-sharing arrangement as a logical use of information to enforce immigration laws and remove those with final orders of removal.
