Southwest Airlines flight attendant detained by ICE
ICE detained Southwest Airlines flight attendant Lorenzo Thompson as he was returning from a work flight.
Fox – 4 News
Passengers checking in for domestic flights are increasingly finding themselves at the center of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has begun arresting some travelers at U.S. airports, according to reports from The New York Times and ABC News, marking a new front in the administration’s push to boost deportations and reach its target of 2,000 immigration arrests per day.
The arrests come as a newly disclosed agreement between the Transportation Security Administration and ICE is drawing scrutiny from immigration advocates and privacy groups. The memorandum, released July 28 by watchdog group American Oversight, outlines how TSA and ICE can share passenger information and how that data is stored and used.
At least 27 people have been arrested at airports for allegedly overstaying their visas, according to the reports. Immigration attorneys told ABC News that some people swept up in the enforcement effort have valid work authorization and no criminal history.
Why are ICE arrests happening at airports?
While ICE has long had the authority to detain people who are in the country unlawfully or who have final removal orders, immigration attorneys say the agency is now using airports in ways not commonly seen before.
“ICE is working with TSA and targeting people at check-in counters and gates, sidestepping the warrants and surveillance operations used in the past,” Buffalo-based immigration attorney Rosanna Berardi told ABC News.
“There is no investigation or no home visit involved. It’s simply a name match at a checkpoint, and that’s what makes this approach so efficient for ICE and so unsettling for travelers.”
The newly released TSA-ICE memorandum has fueled concerns that information travelers provide while flying could be used more broadly for immigration enforcement.
“Americans provide their personal information to board a plane safely, not to become part of an immigration enforcement system or a government surveillance network,” American Oversight Executive Director Chioma Chukwu said in a statement.
Las Vegas airport incident put spotlight on tactic
The emerging enforcement strategy gained national attention earlier this month after a video recorded at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas went viral online.
The footage showed a handcuffed man on the ground surrounded by two ICE agents in civilian clothes. After bystanders questioned the agents about what was happening, the agents left the area.
The Department of Homeland Security later identified the man as Phu Nguyen, an undocumented immigrant from Australia who was born in Vietnam.
DHS told Nevada Connect, part of the USA TODAY Network, that “As officers attempted to arrest Nguyen, a crowd of anti-ICE agitators surrounded officers. To de-escalate the situation and for officer safety, officers did not proceed with the arrest at the Las Vegas Airport and chose to instead arrest him at his flight the following day departing the Los Angeles International Airport on July 14.”
What happens next?
The airport arrests signal how immigration enforcement is increasingly extending into everyday public spaces as the Trump administration intensifies its deportation efforts.
With ICE under pressure to increase arrest numbers and TSA passenger data now the subject of growing scrutiny, airports may become one of the most visible battlegrounds in the administration’s broader immigration strategy.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment on July 29.
Carly Sauvageau of Nevada Connect, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK contributed to this report.
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@usatodayco.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.