Detaining undocumented migrants at airports, the new front in Trump’s immigration offensive
Over 25 people were recently arrested at airports across the country under a new federal rule, according to ‘The New York Times’
The option that for years allowed undocumented migrants to travel on domestic flights has come to an end under the Donald Trump administration. A new directive from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) orders its agents to stop them at airports, eliminating one of the few ways to travel without the risk of crossing an international border. For years, those flights were a relatively safe alternative to visit family, work, study, or simply see other parts of the country. That reality has now changed. The move adds to the large-scale deportation campaign driven by the White House and to a strategy aimed at increasing pressure on migrants until they return to their home communities voluntarily.
In a statement, DHS confirmed it has revoked a policy “that allowed foreigners who are in our country illegally to travel by air within the national territory.” The agency called that practice “harmful” and attributed it to the administration of former president Joe Biden (2021–2025), although it was also tolerated under past Republican administrations. “This administration works diligently to ensure that foreigners who are in our country illegally can no longer fly, unless it is to leave the country and self-deport,” the statement sent to EL PAÍS warns.
However, the agency has not disclosed when the new directive took effect, how many people have been detained, or at which airports it is being enforced. This newspaper asked the administrators and police forces at some of the country’s largest airports, including those in Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago, about these operations. All declined to comment.
The New York Times, the first outlet to report on the practice, said more than 25 people from over a dozen countries were recently detained at U.S. airports, from California to Virginia, as part of the new measure. The report, based on DHS documents and interviews with lawyers representing some of those arrested, says immigration agents in plain clothes have intercepted migrants while they were completing pre-flight documentation checks or waiting in boarding areas in at least 15 airports.
“ICE is here!”
One such case is that of Ecuadorian Chantal Alejandra Morales Rojas, 27, who was detained on July 20 by federal agents in plain clothes moments before boarding a Southwest Airlines flight at Denver International Airport in Colorado. The South American was returning home to Oakland, California. “ICE is here! Help us!” a woman was heard shouting as she begged other passengers for help. No one intervened.
Morales Rojas was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Her lawyer told The New York Times that she had entered the country legally on a visa and had filed an application to remain in the United States. DHS, however, said the woman “overstayed her visa” and for that reason was subject to deportation proceedings. On July 30, she was released after posting bond.
Among those now being targeted by ICE are thousands of people like Morales Rojas, whose status falls into a zone of legal uncertainty: foreigners waiting for an extension of their immigration status, approval of permanent residency, or other paperwork that would allow them to remain in the country. They were not previously priorities for detention, but they are now on the blacklist as the Trump administration seeks to meet a goal of 2,000 immigration arrests per day.
Vietnamese national Phu Nguyen was intercepted by two immigration agents in plain clothes on July 13 at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada, CNN reported. A video of the incident shows him lying on the ground while one officer pins him down and swats at the person recording the scene with a cellphone. Authorities say the agents chose to withdraw to avoid escalating tensions among passengers. However, Nguyen, whose visa expired in 2015, was arrested the next day when he arrived at Los Angeles International Airport in California.
Days later, a Ukrainian woman was arrested under similar circumstances at San Francisco International Airport, also for being in the country on a visa that had expired in 2011. At least 11 migrants living in that area of California have been detained at U.S. airport terminals in recent days, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Easier arrests
“Immigration authorities are seeking tactics that require fewer resources to carry out arrests. Entering an airport is like walking into their web: ICE has a presence at every airport,” immigration lawyer Alex Gálvez explained. The attorney compares these operations to the “controlled” arrests the agency has carried out in courthouses, immigration offices, and other places where federal authorities know it is easier to locate and arrest undocumented migrants. They know precisely what time the person they want to detain will arrive, unlike an operation at someone’s home, where uncertainty is greater and the deployment requires more time, personnel, and resources.
These operations at airline terminals are attributed to an expanded collaboration between ICE and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the agency created after the September 11, 2001 attacks to strengthen airport security. That cooperation became visible in March, when dozens of ICE agents (identifiable by their vests with insignia and, in many cases, without the hoods they often use to cover their faces during immigration raids) were deployed to more than a dozen airports across the country. Their presence responded to TSA staffing shortages caused by a partial federal government shutdown after budget negotiations in Congress stalled.
Another example of the close cooperation between the two agencies is the more than 800 detainees who ended up in ICE custody thanks to information provided by the TSA, according to a Reuters report.
“People don’t realize that when they buy an airplane ticket it’s as if they text ICE their name, date of birth, and practically ask them to track their information to confirm their immigration status,” Gálvez says. The lawyer has been warning migrants since last year about the risks of going to an airport. In a video that went viral when ICE agents were deployed to terminals to support the TSA, Gálvez issued this warning, which now feels even more relevant: “If you’re undocumented and plan to travel by plane, it’s very dangerous. It’s almost like putting your head in the wolf’s mouth.”
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