The Trump administration is taking a hard line on immigration enforcement by directing the Transportation Security Administration to share airline passenger identification data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement
The move, reported by The New York Times, has been in effect since March, with TSA sending ICE lists multiple times per week.
ICE can now cross-check the passenger data against its own databases of individuals subject to deportation or detention. The system allows federal authorities to flag travelers who may be in the country illegally and take enforcement action more efficiently.
Both TSA and ICE fall under the Department of Homeland Security, and a DHS spokesperson described the program as routine.
The spokesperson framed the policy as a rollback of what they called “Biden-era” practices that allowed undocumented individuals to travel domestically without restriction.
“Under President Trump, TSA and DHS will no longer tolerate this,” the spokesperson said. “This administration is working diligently to ensure that aliens in our country illegally can no longer fly unless it is out of our country to self-deport.”
Airlines supply passenger information to TSA at the time of booking. This data is typically used for security screening, including reference against the Terrorist Screening Dataset and other national security systems.
Prior to this partnership with ICE, TSA did not engage in immigration enforcement or domestic criminal cases, according to a former TSA official cited by the New York Times.
The partnership between TSA and ICE represents a significant expansion of federal oversight in domestic air travel.
With passenger names routinely shared, the move underscores the administration’s broader agenda of merging travel security with immigration enforcement, raising both legal and ethical questions about civil liberties.
