American Oversight Sues Trump Administration Over Secretive TSA–ICE Data Sharing that Could Risk Air Travel Safety

We filed suit against the Trump administration for unlawfully withholding records related to a data-sharing arrangement between the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that dramatically expands immigration enforcement into domestic air travel — diverting TSA resources, and putting the rights and safety of millions of air travelers, including U.S. citizens, in jeopardy.

The secrecy surrounding the program has raised urgent concerns about the diversion of TSA resources away from its core mission to safeguard transportation systems for safe passage, the expansion of immigration enforcement into routine domestic travel, and the potential erosion of due process protections. Recent events have underscored the real-world stakes of this issue, including the high-profile account of a Texas college student detained at an airport while attempting to fly home for Thanksgiving — a case that later resulted in a government apology for failing to follow a federal court order.

“This has become a pattern in the Trump administration: take sensitive personal data that the public entrusts to one agency and quietly redeploy it for immigration enforcement, without their knowledge or consent,” said our Executive Director Chioma Chukwu. “The public has a right to know whether the federal agency charged with keeping air travel safe is quietly repurposing passenger information to fuel the Trump administration’s inhumane and dangerous immigration agenda. At a time when TSA is facing persistent staffing shortages and intense scrutiny following a series of near misses and the first fatal crash in years, this secretive arrangement puts air travelers at risk by diverting limited resources away from TSA’s core mission and blurring the line between aviation safety and immigration enforcement.”

Our lawsuit follows reporting that TSA and ICE began a “partnership” in March 2025 involving the sharing of airline passenger information, including travelers’ names and dates of birth, for immigration enforcement purposes. Despite the sweeping implications of this arrangement for millions of air travelers, the administration has refused to provide basic records explaining how the program works, what data is being shared, whether safeguards exist, and how U.S. citizens have been impacted.

The agreement between TSA and ICE is part of a broader pattern under the Trump administration of expanding immigration enforcement by exploiting the sensitive personal data of Americans collected by government agencies for entirely different purposes. We previously secured a court order forcing the Trump administration to release a secretive Internal Revenue Service agreement committing the agency to share sensitive taxpayer information with ICE.

In 2025, TSA faced ongoing challenges, including persistent staffing shortages, record passenger volumes, and heightened scrutiny following a series of security lapses, near misses, and the first fatal major commercial airline crash in nearly two decades that renewed public concern about air travel safety. Last year, the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency also eliminated hundreds of TSA jobs, further straining the agency’s capacity at a critical moment for aviation safety.

We submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to TSA and ICE seeking contracts, memoranda of understanding, and related records governing TSA’s sharing of passenger data with ICE. TSA failed to make a timely determination on the request, while ICE denied expedited processing and failed to adjudicate an appeal, prompting today’s lawsuit, which seeks expedited processing and the prompt release of records explaining the scope and operation of the TSA-ICE data-sharing arrangement.