San Diego travelers concerned about TSA sharing traveler information with ICE
The Transportation Security Administration has been providing Immigration and Customs Enforcement with lists of travelers to assist in enforcement, another way the Trump Administration continues to ramp up its mass deportation effort.
The policy shift was first reported by the New York Times, after college freshman Any Lucía López Belloza was detained at Boston Logan International as she attempted to visit her family in Texas for Thanksgiving. She did not know she had a deportation order and was sent to Honduras two days later, despite a court order barring her removal.
When asked about the information sharing between the agencies, a TSA spokesperson said in a statement, “This is nothing new.”
“Back in February, Secretary [Kristi] Noem reversed the horrendous Biden-era policy that allowed aliens in our country illegally to jet around our country and do so without identification,” the statement continued.
“That is absolutely false,” said San Diego immigration attorney Jan Bejar. “Nobody gets on a plane without going through the TSA check, and you don’t get past the TSA check unless you have a valid form of identification.”
Bejar said the information sharing is part of the effort to increase enforcement to the Administration’s widely reported quota set earlier this year of 3,000 arrests per day.
“What they’re doing is they’re going fishing, and in every possible fish tank that they find,” Bejar said.
“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,” TSA’s statement continued.
“In this country, we pride ourselves, in what is called due process,” Bejar said. “You don’t have to be subjected to any punishment unless you’re afforded due process of law. So when they just arrest you at an airport, or arrest you in other circumstances, and charge you in such a way that you can’t even defend yourself, that is not due process.”
Travelers at San Diego International Airport weigh in
The information sharing raised similar concerns for some travelers at San Diego International Airport.
“I don’t feel that that’s right. It’s getting a little bit out of hand,” said Jacqueline Cienfuegos. “Maybe now that people are hearing about it or listening to this, they’re going to be scared to fly or go anywhere. I mean, I would.”
Cienfuegos was traveling to Brawley for her job working with farmworkers.
“I see people working out countless hours, mornings, nights. It’s something I wouldn’t do, I’ll tell you that much. And if it wasn’t for them, who’s going to do it?” she asked. “So I just think, let them be. If they’re working hard for their families, they’re not doing anything — they’re not harming anyone. They’re paying taxes too.”
“Obviously, she was probably not the worst of the worst,” Barbara Fritz said of López Belloza.
“We’ve had trouble deciding if they’re the worst of the worst, and just assuming that they are, but with no real, you know, evidence,” she continued. “It’s not very transparent, is it?”
“I firmly believe in privacy. And I don’t think the TSA should be sharing information with ICE or anyone else,” her husband Jerry Fritz added. “Get the criminals, go after the criminals. If they’re Americans, go after them. If they’re immigrants, go after them.”
“But,” he said, “they should have a record through the judicial system, not through TSA.”
“That would be so traumatic for families with children to see that unfold in the holidays. I mean, it’s just not even reasonable to me,” Barbara Fritz said. “There’s got to be a place, but it’s not here in the airport.”
