ICE Steps Up Arrests at US Airports

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests at US airports are happening more often, attorneys say, as the agency seeks to increase detentions across travel hubs used to move people quickly between states and countries.

Lawyers and advocates point to a series of recent incidents in which passengers say they were detained abruptly by agents during airport travel. ICE, the federal agency responsible for arresting and deporting undocumented migrants, is under pressure to deliver on President Donald Trump’s deportation agenda, including a target of about 2,000 arrests a day.

Airport arrests are described as part of wider enforcement efforts aimed at using different tactics to expand the number of people taken into custody. Attorneys say ICE has recently placed a focus on travellers whose visas have expired.

Detentions Reported In Multiple States

This month, an immigration attorney said a woman was detained at a Washington, DC-area airport while travelling to Texas to gather with family for her father’s funeral. Joe Moravec, representing the woman, said she entered the United States legally and is in the asylum process. He said she is being held in Virginia.

Moravec also said another client was taken into custody at a Chicago airport. He said that client, too, was legally in the US and was subsequently held by ICE.

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson said in a statement to CNN that the administration is working so that people in the country illegally can no longer fly unless they are travelling out of the US to “self-deport”.

Jeff Joseph, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said enforcement at airports has involved levels of co-ordination between the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and ICE that lawyers have not seen before. He warned that if people with pending immigration applications are prevented from travelling, it would mark a significant change.

Why Airports Can Speed Up Arrests

Senior Homeland Security officials revised enforcement operations after two fatal shootings involving ICE officers this month. In both cases, one in Houston and another in Maine, police said incidents began when ICE initiated traffic stops. Airport arrests are not new under the Trump administration, but lawyers and former officials say they are becoming more frequent.

John Sandweg, former acting ICE director under President Barack Obama, said pressure to increase arrests can drive agents to use the “fastest and easiest” way to place people in custody. He said DHS already receives passenger information in advance through TSA, and that airports provide a controlled environment in which officers can take custody with fewer personnel.

A Homeland Security spokesperson told CNN it would not confirm whether there has been a rise in airport arrests, citing “operational security reasons”. The spokesperson also said the department has deported nearly 1 million undocumented immigrants as of 12 July.

Examples Cited By Attorneys And Officials

Police and federal officials said an attempted arrest at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas on 13 July ended after officers walked away, leaving a man with one handcuff on. The man was identified by DHS as Phu Nguyen, 57, who was in the US on an expired visa. After a crowd confronted the officers, DHS said agents stopped to “de-escalate the situation and for officer safety”. Las Vegas police removed the handcuff and released Nguyen after finding he had no outstanding warrants. DHS said he was taken into custody the next day after arriving at Los Angeles International Airport. DHS said his two-year visa expired in 2015, and that he would receive due process.

In Nashville, DHS confirmed that ICE arrested Southwest Airlines flight attendant Lorenzo Thompson on 14 July. DHS said the Jamaican citizen entered the US on 17 April 2021 with a six-month visa, but overstayed and failed to depart. DHS said he remains in ICE custody pending immigration proceedings.

At Denver International Airport, video shown to CNN indicated that ICE arrested Chantal Alejandra Morales Rojas of Ecuador on 20 July as she tried to board a Southwest flight. DHS said she overstayed a visa that expired on 4 January 2025. Her attorneys said she entered lawfully in January 2023 as an au pair and later received work authorisation while her application was pending; they said she has no criminal history and is pursuing lawful proceedings. DHS said a pending application and work authorisation do not confer legal status. Her lawyers said she is set to be released on bond.

In San Francisco, DHS said that on 22 July ICE attempted to arrest Ukrainian national Iryna Gorb after she overstayed a visa that expired in 2011. DHS said she tried to flee and resisted arrest, and that she remains in custody.

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29 July 2026

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