The Trump administration has expanded immigration enforcement to U.S. airports, where plainclothes Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are increasingly arresting travelers with expired visas, including people awaiting immigration benefits and spouses of U.S. citizens.
Immigration attorneys told The New York Times that the practice marks a significant shift, as domestic air travel has traditionally not exposed many visa overstays with pending applications to detention.
The Times identified enforcement actions at at least 15 airports in recent weeks, citing Homeland Security documents obtained through public records requests and interviews with attorneys representing more than 25 detainees from over a dozen countries. Lawyers said those detained include an engineer awaiting a work-visa extension, an Ecuadorian former au pair with a pending immigration application, and multiple people married to U.S. citizens who were seeking permanent residency.
The Department of Homeland Security did not confirm the reported expansion but said in a statement that the administration is "working diligently to ensure that aliens in our country illegally can no longer fly unless it is out of our country to self-deport." The department has not disclosed how many people have been detained through the airport initiative.
Immigration lawyers said the arrests reflect a broader change in enforcement priorities. "In 38 years practicing immigration law, I had never seen this," attorney Charles Kuck told The Times. Shannon Shepherd, vice chair of the American Immigration Lawyers Association's Chicago chapter, said she now advises clients with pending immigration cases to avoid domestic air travel.
The reported expansion builds on a 2025 information-sharing arrangement under which the Transportation Security Administration alerts ICE when travelers identified in immigration enforcement databases pass through airport screening. Attorneys told The Times the program now appears to extend beyond people with final deportation orders to include visa overstays with pending legal applications.
The airport arrests come as ICE has sharply increased enforcement nationwide. Department of Homeland Security data show the agency arrested 43,138 people in June, the highest monthly total since President Donald Trump returned to office, with more than 65,700 people in detention as of mid-July. White House border czar Tom Homan said the administration is aiming to sustain the higher arrest pace.
The expansion also follows broader efforts to widen immigration enforcement locations. Earlier this month, ICE defended arrests inside New York immigration courts despite federal court rulings limiting the practice, arguing in court filings that courthouses can be the safest locations to take certain individuals into custody.
