· Border Crossing Law Firm · From the Border Crossing Law Firm media archive.
Reporting describes a marked increase in immigration arrests tied to domestic air travel and to routine immigration appointments. The reported mechanism is data sharing: the Transportation Security Administration has been passing passenger information — names, photos and itineraries — to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which uses it to identify and detain travellers inside domestic terminals, at gates and checkpoints rather than only at international arrivals. Reuters reported that ICE has arrested more than eight hundred people following such tips. Separately, Axios describes people being taken into custody at or around USCIS interviews and check-ins, including asylum seekers with applications still pending — an approach some attorneys are calling entrapment, because the government is arresting people at the very appointments it required them to attend.
Those described as most at risk span a wide range: people with outstanding removal orders; anyone whose status has expired or been revoked, including expired visas, terminated TPS and wound-down parole; people with pending applications; DACA and other deferred-action recipients; anyone with criminal history; and some lawful permanent residents with certain convictions. The national scale and the criteria being applied have not been established — DHS has published no formal policy, and AILA reports that it is still collecting accounts.