Trump’s Immigration Agenda Hits Airports

This week, we published a previously undisclosed agreement that shows the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have formalized a data-sharing partnership. It was first reported in a New York Times piece on the Trump administration’s efforts to extend its immigration enforcement agenda into domestic air travel.

The agreement highlights the Trump administration’s mass immigration enforcement priorities. We’re using public records requests and litigation to investigate the administration’s expansion of ICE’s scope and duties — and to force it to be transparent about its actions.

In December 2025, reporting revealed that TSA was sharing passenger information with ICE to identify travelers for possible immigration arrest and deportation. While the Trump administration publicly described the arrangement as routine information sharing between DHS agencies, it never disclosed that the partnership had been formalized through an official legal agreement. Earlier this year, TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill said in sworn congressional testimony that TSA does not “send the information to ICE; we help ICE check against [TSA] information.”

The agreement we obtained raises questions about that response. It states that TSA intends to share data with ICE and that ICE will store information received from TSA in its own repository. After the Senate confirmed David Cummins as the new TSA administrator yesterday, we called on him to provide a full explanation of the partnership between TSA and ICE — to Congress and to the public. 

“This isn’t just about TSA,” our Executive Director Chioma Chukwu said. “It’s about an administration that keeps taking information Americans are required to provide for one purpose and repurposing it for another: to identify, track, and target people for immigration enforcement.”

We have seen similar efforts in other agencies. Last year, we uncovered important information about how the IRS is sharing individuals’ personal tax information with ICE, after the government fought to keep details about that data-sharing agreement secret. We currently have multiple open suits against the Trump administration seeking records on other types of sensitive personal information that agencies are reportedly sharing with ICE, including voter data and Medicaid data.

In addition to the efforts to funnel government data into immigration enforcement, the administration has twisted unrelated policy efforts to focus on immigration. Reporting from NPR this week highlighted the way the administration is using “tough on crime” rhetoric to expand its immigration enforcement into areas that might otherwise oppose it. As Chukwu told NPR, “All roads lead to immigration enforcement with this administration.”

Senate delays Blanche’s AG confirmation vote

The Senate Judiciary Committee delayed its vote to confirm Todd Blanche — President Donald Trump’s former personal defense attorney — as attorney general on Thursday, after two Republican members raised concerns about Blanche’s potential role in Trump’s settlement with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) “anti-weaponization fund.”

We also have questions about Blanche’s actions at DOJ, including whether he has used his role to shield President Trump from scrutiny. This week, we filed an amended lawsuit for Blanche’s communications about DOJ’s review of investigative files related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and its attempts to bury the report on President Trump’s mishandling of classified documents produced by former Special Counsel Jack Smith.

The communications we’re seeking could shed light on Blanche’s actions at DOJ and his stated loyalty to President Trump. Before he is confirmed as attorney general, the public needs to know if Blanche is able to do the job with the kind of impartiality that Americans need from the nation’s top law enforcement officer. 

American Oversight in the news

• ICE arrests surge at airports, opening new front in deportation drive (New York Times)
• In Memphis, an ‘anti-crime’ task force quietly turned into an ICE crackdown (NPR)
• ICE is expanding its arrests at airports to new targets, lawyers say (Washington Post)
• How TSA passenger screening became an immigration enforcement tool (Government Executive)
• NC auditor’s office in public records fight over Dallas Woodhouse’s work (NC Newsline)

Other stories we’re following

• Federal judge rejects DOJ attempt to obtain unredacted NJ voter rolls (Politico)
• Trump will end subsidies for Medicare drug premiums (New York Times)
• Trump’s claims of election interference in doubt after release of declassified intelligence (Washington Post)
• New DOJ rule would allow immigration judges to hold lawyers in contempt (CBS News)
• Trump’s attacks on mail balloting and concerns over delays turn midterms spotlight on Postal Service (Associated Press)