TSA sharing passenger data with ICE raises privacy concerns
TSA sharing passenger data with ICE raises privacy concerns
Publish Date: 2026-04-04 05:05:00
Source Domain: www.usatoday.com
April 4, 2026, 5:05 a.m. ET
The deportation of a Guatemalan mother and daughter who were detained before boarding a flight raises new questions about how the Trump administration is using government databases for immigration enforcement.
The U.S. Transportation Safety Administration reportedly notified Immigration and Customs Enforcement that Angelina Lopez-Jimenez and her 9-year-old daughter, both of whom had final removal orders, had an upcoming March 22 domestic flight from San Francisco International Airport. That night, plainclothes ICE officers detained them at the California airport, seen in viral videos circulated on social media.
Immigrant rights groups say the detention of Lopez-Jimenez, 41, and her daughter marks a new phase in President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts, which is relying in part on an array of government data to identify undocumented people it deems deportable. Critics worry the federal government is building surveillance systems that know too much about everyday people.
“We have moved into an era in which the government can have total knowledge of every single individual,” said U.S. Rep. John Garamendi, D-California, who represents Contra Costa County where Lopez-Jimenez and her daughter lived. He pointed to the administration’s plans to use IRS tax data, along with Medicaid and Medicare rolls, to identify undocumented people.
“They’re using those databases to identify individuals for, in this case, apprehension and to be deported, regardless of what they have done in the United States,” Garamendi said.
Lopez-Jimenez and her daughter have no criminal histories, Garamendi added. Under prior presidential administrations, they were considered low priorities for deportation.
However, in the administration’s promise to deport millions of people, the mother and daughter appearing on a flight made them subject to quick removal.
Why were mother and daughter detained at airport?
A statement by the Department of Homeland Security,…
