Airport immigration arrests stem from TSA-ICE collaboration, sources say

By Camilo Montoya-Galvez Immigration Correspondent Camilo Montoya-Galvez is the Immigration Correspondent at CBS News, where his reporting is featured across multiple programs and platforms, including national broadcast shows, CBS News 24/7, CBSNews.com and the organization's social media accounts. Read Full Bio July 29, 2026 / 1:15 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Recent reports of immigration arrests at U.S. airports, some of them captured in videos that have gone viral, stem from increased collaboration between the Transportation Security Agency and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE sources tell CBS News.TSA has been sharing more information about noncitizen travelers with ICE, including on immigrants who lack criminal records but are suspected of civil immigration violations, like overstaying their visas, the sources say.TSA agents are increasingly giving ICE "tips" or "leads" so that agency can arrest, detain and process for deportation individuals who are deemed deportable by the federal government.Some of those caught up in the latest front of President Trump's deportation crackdown, immigration lawyers say, include people who have pending immigration applications or work permits but lack permanent legal status.Previously, ICE sources told CBS News, TSA and ICE worked closely together, but mainly on lower profile and non-controversial investigations and arrests involving federal criminal offenses or public safety concerns, like drug smuggling and human trafficking.Now, the two federal agencies are collaborating more broadly on civil immigration enforcement. In May 2025, TSA and ICE signed an agreement to boost information sharing between the two agencies, according to a memo disclosed this week by the group American Oversight.One of the ICE sources said that people traveling at airports are "easy targets" who immigration agents can arrest in secured locations and while having information about their cases in advance. The source noted that doing immigration enforcement at airports is a relatively straightforward way to boost arrest levels, at a time when the White House has been pressuring ICE to record 2,000 daily arrests. The greater collaboration between ICE and TSA marks a significant policy shift. Historically, people in the U.S. illegally or without a permanent status could fly domestically without any issues, as long as they did not have any criminal records or public safety concerns. That's not the case anymore.One of the ICE sources said it's now a "stupid" idea for people in the U.S. illegally or with a tenuous immigration status to try to travel domestically.In a statement to CBS News, the Department of Homeland Security hinted at the increased immigration enforcement at airports."DHS reversed the horrendous Biden-era policy that allowed aliens in our country illegally to jet around our country," DHS added. "Under President Trump, DHS will no longer tolerate this. 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." In: Immigration U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Transportation Security Administration Trump Administration