What is happening at some airports in the United States has many people with their hearts in their throats. The TSA (the agency that controls airport security) has begun sharing information about domestic travelers with ICE (the agency in charge of mass deportations, yes). Apparently, the TSA is sending passenger lists several times a week so ICE can cross check them with its database…
You can imagine the result: arrests at airports (on domestic flights), accelerated deportations, and a feeling that traveling within the country is no longer safe. And this is not an exaggeration. For many people, flying has become an experience filled with fear.
The role of the TSA
For years, the TSA was only about aviation security. It checked luggage, detected potential threats, and prevented risks, but it had never taken part in immigration enforcement tasks.
Since March, according to available information, the agency has been sharing names and basic identification data of passengers flying within the country. Enough information for ICE to locate a person even before their plane takes off…
Security experts point out that this crosses a line that had been respected until now. Not even people wanted for serious crimes were tracked this way on domestic flights…
Arrests and deportations
One of the cases that has had the biggest impact is that of a 19 year old young woman, Any Lucía López Belloza, detained through this system after being arrested at Boston airport, and deported to Honduras two days later despite a judge having ordered her removal to be stopped… Everything points to the operation being activated thanks to the data sharing between the TSA and ICE. And we are not talking about someone who has been in the US for two years, she had been living here since she was 7 years old.
It is not known how many people have been detained under this system, but they say it has been many. Airports are becoming key points for ICE immigration raids.
The political context
The United States has become a fairly hostile place for undocumented migrants (and for documented ones as well, as you may have noticed). Immigration policies are harsher, fewer migrants and refugees are accepted, there are more controls, and more pressure even on people who have been living in the country for years…