TSA Shared 31,000 Traveler Records with ICE: What Massachusetts Immigrants Need to Know

What Happened

On April 7, 2026, Reuters reported that the Transportation Security Administration has shared records on more than 31,000 travelers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for possible immigration enforcement. According to internal ICE data reviewed by Reuters, those tips led to the arrest of more than 800 people between the start of the current administration in January 2025 and February 2026. That figure is far higher than anything previously acknowledged in public.

The data came from the TSA's Secure Flight Program, a passenger screening system established after the September 11 attacks to identify travelers on government terrorism watchlists. According to Reuters, the program has increasingly been used as a routine immigration enforcement tool rather than a counterterrorism measure.

What Is the Secure Flight Program?

The Secure Flight Program was created by Congress after the September 11 attacks as part of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. It became fully operational in 2009. Under the program, airlines are required to transmit passenger data to TSA before every flight. TSA then checks the passenger list against federal watchlists.

The data collected includes your full name, date of birth, gender, and reservation information. For international travel, it can include passport details. Airlines collect this information at booking and pass it to TSA for screening. Until recently, the stated purpose was counterterrorism and aviation security.

According to the Reuters reporting, TSA has been sharing some of that passenger data with ICE for use in routine civil immigration enforcement. DHS did not answer Reuters' questions about the data sharing, but stated in a general response that TSA "is pursuing solutions that improve resiliency, security, and efficiency across our entire system."

How the Arrests Have Been Happening

Reports and multiple news outlets describe a pattern in which ICE officers receive a tip that a specific passenger will be on a specific flight and then meet that passenger at the gate, at baggage claim, or in the terminal. In some cases, travelers have been detained before they even reached their destination city. The Reuters review of ICE's own data counted more than 800 arrests of this type through February 2026.

Some of the publicly reported examples include an Irish couple who had lived in the United States for more than two decades, both with pending applications for permanent residence. They were arrested last summer in front of their children, ages 7 and 10, as they attempted to fly from Florida to New York after a vacation. The parents were deported. Their children remained in the United States with adult siblings.

News outlets also reported the case of a college student who was detained by ICE officers in November 2025 while traveling from Boston to Texas for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Why This Matters in Massachusetts

Massachusetts is home to one of the largest Brazilian immigrant communities in the United States, along with significant populations from Haiti, Cabo Verde, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, and many other countries. Many families in our communities travel by air several times a year, whether to visit relatives back home, to attend funerals and weddings, to take children to warmer states during school vacations, or simply for work.

Boston Logan International Airport is the primary gateway for most of those trips. If TSA passenger data is being shared with ICE nationwide, it is reaching Logan, Worcester Regional Airport, and every other airport in New England. Any traveler with an unresolved immigration issue, including people with pending asylum, SIJS, VAWA, U visa, or T visa applications, people with old removal orders they did not know about, and people whose prior cases were closed or administratively terminated, could be identified through a routine passenger list.

This concern comes on top of the heightened enforcement environment already reported in Massachusetts. According to WBUR, ICE has made more than 7,000 arrests in the state since the start of the current administration, with the largest numbers coming from Brazilian and Guatemalan communities.

What You Should Do Before You Fly

If you are not a U.S. citizen and you are thinking about taking a flight, whether domestic or international, please take these precautions.

• Talk to an immigration attorney first. A free or low-cost consultation with an experienced immigration lawyer can help you understand whether you have any open case, prior order, or other record that could trigger an ICE encounter at the airport. Do this before you buy a ticket, not after.
• Check your immigration records. You can request your immigration file from USCIS through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. This can reveal a prior removal order, an old application you may have forgotten, or a file notation you did not know existed.
• Be especially careful about international travel. Leaving the United States can have serious consequences for many people with pending cases, including triggering bars to reentry or abandonment of an adjustment of status application. Never travel abroad on a pending case without checking with your attorney.
• Carry documentation. If you have a valid work permit, green card, advance parole document, or other lawful status, carry the original or a certified copy with you. If you are represented by an attorney, carry their contact information.
• Know your rights at the airport. Inside the terminal and in most public airport areas, you have the right to remain silent, the right to refuse consent to a search of your belongings absent a warrant, and the right to ask whether you are free to leave. You can decline to answer questions about where you were born or your immigration status. If you are detained, ask to speak with a lawyer immediately and do not sign any document you do not understand.

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