Tips from federal airport security officials led to the arrest of more than 800 people by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the last year.
The Transportation Security Administration shared 31,000 traveler records and other tips with ICE for possible immigration enforcement, according to internal ICE data reviewed and first reported by Reuters.
The 800 ICE arrests span the start of Donald Trump’s presidency through February 2026, the data showed.
Both TSA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection help screen travelers and bags and verify passports and other documentation at the nation’s airport. The TSA has travel records that allows the agency to assess passenger information for people on the government’s terrorism watchlist.
ICE, TSA and CBP all fall under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Trump recently ordered ICE officers to assist TSA agents at the nation’s busiest airports amid the partial government shutdown and sprawling airport security lines.
The showdown over ICE reforms has prompted a partisan funding fight that has lasted more than 50 days, stripping funding for most of DHS. And Democrats have condemned ICE agents being stationed at airports and called on the Trump administration to remove them.
The agencies typically share information related to national security threats, drug trafficking or money laundering, or other suspicious airport activity, but they turned to immigration arrests last year as part of Trump’s mass deportation effort, Reuters reported.
In a report by Forbes, a DHS 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.”
Reuters reported it could not determine how many arrests took place inside airports, but, according to three immigration attorneys, ICE has been making arrests at airports for months. The TSA tips are mainly helpful in determining when a person would be traveling.
News outlets, including Reuters and Forbes, have highlighted several sympathetic stories about supposed unjust airport arrests. Lawmakers and others have criticized the way in which databases are being used to locate immigration offenders.
In the Forbes report, a DHS spokesperson told the outlet “This is nothing new,” adding, “TSA and DHS will no longer tolerate the horrendous Biden-era policy that allowed aliens in our country illegally to jet around our country and do so without identification.”
In March 2026, a trending video circulated online showing ICE officers arresting two people, including a crying woman, at San Francisco International Airport. DHS later defended both arrests and claimed they were subject to final orders of removal, according to Reuters.
However, CBP and ICE have also arrested illegal alien criminals using fraudulent passports in an attempt to flee the country and others involved in criminal activity.
In February, a Salvadoran illegal immigrant wanted for allegedly sexually abusing a preteen family member, along with being ordered removed 20 years ago, was captured at a Washington, D.C., airport as he attempted to leave the country.
Across the country in Oregon, federal agents on Feb. 3 arrested a Mexican national charged with rape and other sex crimes after he tried to use a fake passport to hop a plane at the Portland International Airport.
The 31,000 traveler records were gathered by TSA’s Secure Flight Program. Created in 2007, the program was intended as a counter-terrorism measure to identify and match would-be terrorists to watchlists.
The program allows the TSA to prescreen travelers who may be on terrorist watchlists and prevent them from boarding aircraft.
DHS told Reuters that under Trump, TSA “is pursuing solutions that improve resiliency, security, and efficiency across our entire system.”
