Exclusive: ICE arrested more than 800 people after tips from US airport security agency

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested more than 800 people following tips ​shared by federal airport security officials from the start of Donald Trump’s presidency through February 2026, internal ICE data reviewed by ‌Reuters show, a figure far above what was previously publicly known.

According to the data, the Transportation Security Administration provided ICE with records on over 31,000 travelers as potential leads for immigration enforcement..

Reuters could not determine how many arrests took place inside airports, although the TSA tips would mainly be useful in determining when a person would ​be traveling.

ICE and TSA are part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The agencies have historically shared information related to national security ​threats, but they began focusing on routine immigration arrests last year as part of Trump’s mass deportation effort.

The TSA’s Secure Flight Program, launched in 2007, collected 31,000 traveler records to review passenger information for individuals who might be on U.S. government watchlists. Designed as a counter-terrorism measure, the program’s purpose was not to track immigration offenders, according to the regulation outlining its intent.

DHS did not respond to questions about TSA providing passenger information to ICE, but said that under Trump, TSA “is pursuing solutions that improve resiliency, security, and efficiency across our entire system.”

Figures for arrests and traveler records that TSA shared with ICE before Trump’s current term were unavailable.

Since mid-February, U.S. airports and immigration enforcement have been caught in a partisan funding dispute, as Democrats declined to back extra funding for the Republican president’s immigration crackdown without reforms to reduce aggressive tactics.

The standoff stalled a bill to fund the DHS, leaving TSA security officers without pay for at least two full paychecks. When some unpaid TSA officers started calling in sick, Trump sent ICE officers to more than a dozen airports in March to help with security efforts.

Democrats have criticized the deployment and called on the Trump administration to remove them. A group of more than 40 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives wrote in a letter to recently installed Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin last week that ICE officers “will cause confusion and fear” if allowed to remain in airports.

Several cases ​of ICE officers arresting travelers in U.S. ​airports have sparked backlash.

In November, ICE officers detained a college student traveling from Boston to Texas to celebrate Thanksgiving and arrested a tearful mother at San Francisco International Airport just one day before Trump’s airport deployment began.

DHS defended both arrests and said they were subject to final ​orders of removal.

Reuters spoke with three immigration attorneys who said they were familiar with cases of people without ​legal immigration status ⁠being arrested in airports.