Washington —
Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests at US airports are raising alarm among attorneys who say they are happening more frequently, citing a series of incidents where passengers have been abruptly swept up by agents when they’re traveling.
The federal agency, which is charged with the arrest and deportation of undocumented immigrants, remains under pressure to deliver on President Donald Trump’s deportation agenda. That includes meeting the administration’s goal of around 2,000 arrests a day.
Arrests at airports are part of a broader effort by ICE agents to use various enforcement tactics to increase arrests, including most recently, focusing on people with expired visas who are traveling.
This month, for example, a woman was detained at a Washington, DC-area airport on her way home to Texas to gather with family for her father’s funeral, according to Joe Moravec, an immigration attorney who’s representing her. The woman, who asked not to be identified, entered the US legally and is in the asylum process. She is now being held in Virginia.
