US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stepped up arrests at airports, using flight-manifest data and airport security records to identify travellers with expired visas, prompting pushback from airlines over how and where the detentions are carried out. Reuters reported the latest arrest on 31 July, when ICE detained a Johns Hopkins researcher at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport as she prepared to board a domestic flight.
The enforcement effort has spread to at least 15 airports, including major hubs in San Francisco, Houston, Denver, Miami and Kansas City, as well as airports in the Washington area. Reuters and other reporting indicate the focus is broader than traditional airport enforcement, extending beyond people with final removal orders to some travellers with lapsed visas and pending immigration applications.
The Wall Street Journal reported that on 25 July an ICE officer tried to board a Southwest Airlines flight in Dallas to make an arrest, but the airline refused. Airlines are pressing for clearer procedures inside terminals and at gates, amid concerns over safety, protocol and the operational disruption caused by arrests at airports. Reporting also points to data-sharing between the Transportation Security Administration and ICE as the mechanism behind the targeting of travellers.