ToplineThe Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has provided Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with tens of thousands of traveler records—far more than was previously known—since Trump returned to the presidency.Demonstrators protested against ICE agents at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport during the partial government shutdown last month. (Photo by Scott Olson)Getty ImagesKey FactsThe Transportation Security Administration (TSA) shared more than 31,000 traveler records with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from the beginning of President Trump’s second term through February 2026, Reuters reported. The traveler records were gathered by TSA's Secure Flight Program, created in 2007 to identify and match would-be terrorists to watchlists—not to track down immigration offenders.Tips from the TSA led to more than 800 arrests by ICE, Reuters found. “This is nothing new,” a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson told Forbes, adding “TSA and DHS will no longer tolerate” the “horrendous Biden-era policy that allowed aliens in our country illegally to jet around our country and do so without identification.”What Is Tsa’s Secure Flight ProgramThe Secure Flight Program was created in 2007 to allow the TSA to prescreen travelers who may be on terrorist watchlists and prevent them from boarding aircraft. The stated purpose is to identify “low and high-risk passengers before they arrive at the airport by matching their names against trusted traveler lists and watchlists,” according to a Defense Department bulletin. Protocols for sharing traveler data were addressed in a 2007 privacy impact statement, which explained that TSA would collect limited Secure Flight Passenger Data (SFPD)—including the traveler’s full name, date of birth, gender, redress number, known traveler number, and passport information. “Personal data is collected, used, distributed, stored and disposed of according to stringent guidelines,” according to a note on American Airlines’ website. The data is subject to “all applicable privacy laws and regulations,” according to United Airlines.Airport ArrestsLast month, Trump sent ICE agents to airports amid the partial government shutdown —but ICE has been making arrests at airports for months, three immigration attorneys told Reuters. Several incidents that have generated headlines over the past year include ICE officers detaining an Irish woman who had lived legally in the US for four decades because of a criminal record dating back almost 20 years; ICE arresting a Salvadoran woman at Salt Lake City International Airport in October; ICE detaining ⁠a college student traveling from Boston to Texas for Thanksgiving; and, in February 2026, detaining a Guatemalan mother and her 9-year-old daughter at San Francisco International Airport before they were deported. “The real story here is the way in which databases are being used,” Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., told the New York Times at the time. “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,” the DHS spokesperson told Forbes.Crucial Quote“Nothing about this incident, like so many ICE operations, makes me feel safer as an American,” Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said after ICE arrested an immigrant at Salt Lake City International Airport last fall.Further ReadingTrump Threatens Sending ICE To Airports If Partial Shutdown Doesn’t End—As Musk Offers To Pay TSA Workers (Forbes)