TSA Shares Airline Passenger Data With ICE for Deportation Enforcement

Reporting in December 2025, first from the New York Times, revealed that the Transportation Security Administration has been providing Immigration and Customs Enforcement with lists of airline travelers several times a week, drawn from the Secure Flight program that airlines use to transmit passenger names, birthdates, and other biographic data ahead of departure. ICE cross-references the lists against its deportation database and can send agents to detain matched individuals at the airport.

The practice was not publicly disclosed before the reporting, and travelers were not informed their flight data could trigger immigration enforcement. In one documented case, TSA data allowed ICE to locate, detain, and deport a mother and daughter with a removal order as they attempted to fly domestically from San Francisco International Airport.

Civil liberties advocates say the arrangement blurs the line between aviation security and civil immigration enforcement, extending the reach of enforcement into a routine daily activity and raising due-process and privacy concerns for citizens and noncitizens alike.