Federal immigration authorities have begun arresting foreign citizens with expired U.S. visas at airports across the country, according to a report by the New York Times and documents obtained by ABC News. The arrests have targeted spouses of Americans, tech workers, asylum applicants, and others with pending green card applications—many of whom entered the country legally and held valid work permits.
At least 27 arrests have been documented using this enforcement tactic across at least nine states, including California and Virginia, according to an internal immigration memo obtained by ABC News. The New York Times reported enforcement actions in at least 15 airports in recent weeks, with plain-clothes ICE agents confronting travelers at check-in counters and arrival gates.
The arrests are enabled by a data-sharing arrangement between the Transportation Security Administration and ICE. A memorandum of agreement signed in May 2025 allows TSA to share traveler information with immigration authorities. According to reporting from Forbes, TSA has provided ICE with tens of thousands of traveler records since Trump returned to the presidency—far more than was previously known.
Immigration attorneys say the new approach is alarming because it targets people who are not under final deportation orders. “What’s new is the venue and method,” said Rosanna Berardi, a Buffalo-based immigration attorney quoted by ABC News. “ICE is working with TSA and targeting people at check-in counters and gates, sidestepping the warrants and surveillance operations used in the past.”
Berardi noted that routine air travel has effectively become a legal status audit. “Airports are becoming a new enforcement zone for people who have been living in the U.S. lawfully, holding valid work permits, complying with immigration law, but still in pending status awaiting their green cards,” she said. “These individuals are technically in a legal gray area, since a pending application does not carry the same protection as an approved one.”
Jeff Joseph, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told CNN that the practice raises questions about whether people with pending asylum applications can legally travel. “If the new expectation is that if you have a pending application, you can’t travel … that would be very, very new,” Joseph said.
The Trump administration has set a target of approximately 3,000 ICE arrests per day as part of its deportation agenda, according to Forbes. The airport enforcement strategy represents an expansion of ICE’s presence at major transportation hubs. In March 2026, during a government shutdown, the Trump administration deployed ICE agents to more than a dozen airports to fill TSA staffing gaps, which created the infrastructure for the current enforcement operations.
The Department of Homeland Security defended the arrests in a statement, saying the administration “will no longer tolerate” allowing people in the country illegally to travel. “This 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,” a DHS spokesperson said.
Some of those detained have had no criminal records and held valid work authorization or parole documents, according to immigration attorneys who spoke with ABC News. The arrests have prompted immigration lawyers to warn clients with pending cases to reconsider domestic air travel altogether.
Sources
- The New York Times — reported that ICE is arresting foreign citizens with expired visas at airports, including spouses of Americans and tech workers, in enforcement actions across at least 15 airports
- ABC News — obtained internal immigration memo documenting at least 27 arrests across nine states; quoted immigration attorney Rosanna Berardi on the new enforcement method
- Forbes — reported on TSA-ICE data-sharing agreement and that TSA has provided tens of thousands of traveler records to ICE since Trump took office
- CNN — quoted Jeff Joseph, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, on the impact of arrests on asylum applicants
