Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Expands Airport Presence as Trump Administration Intensifies Immigration Enforcement

ICE agents have been placed at a minimum of 15 U.S. airports after a data-sharing agreement with the Transportation Security Administration. The arrangement enables ICE to flag travelers who are in the country illegally, including visa-overstayers, and has resulted in at least 27 arrests since the operation began, according to multiple media reports. One high-profile detention involved a Johns Hopkins University researcher who was held in Baltimore on alleged visa-overstay charges. ICE officers were photographed screening passengers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on March 23, 2026.

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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has ended several Biden-era policies that allowed undocumented immigrants to travel freely within the United States. DHS now states that only flights bound for departure from the United States are permitted for these individuals. In addition, DHS is encouraging “self-deportation” by offering a free plane ticket and a $2,600 check to those whose Temporary Protected Status for Haiti and Syria was terminated by a recent Supreme Court ruling. A new U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services rule permits asylum officers to refer certain affirmative asylum cases directly to immigration judges, bypassing the traditional interview step. The agency also plans to rely more on existing state and county detention facilities rather than constructing new centers.

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White House border czar Tom Homan reported that more than three million migrants have left the United States during President Donald Trump’s first year back in office, including an estimated 2.2 million who self-deported. Homan also highlighted a surge in ICE activity, noting 43,000 new detentions added in June and additional arrests planned for July. A Migration Policy Institute (MPI) study released this week found that the unauthorized immigrant population reached a new peak of 15.8 million in 2024, up from roughly 11 million in prior years, with about 5 million remaining in the United States between 2019 and 2024.

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DHS officials assert that the expanded airport presence and tighter travel restrictions are intended to enforce existing immigration laws, not to accelerate removals. Border-security analyst Lora Ries of the Heritage Foundation argued that visa overstayers “lied to the government” and are therefore deportable. Critics, however, warn that the new asylum-referral rule removes an essential procedural safeguard and raises due-process concerns. Julia Gelatt, associate director of MPI’s U.S.

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• “Temporary means temporary, and these visa applicants told the federal government when applying for the visa that they would return home when the visa expired,” — Lora Ries

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• “Many people are trying to follow the rules of our immigration system as they understand them, but are caught somewhere in the process and haven’t yet gotten either an answer that tells them to go home or (about) some kind of permanent protection in the U.S.,” — Julia Gelatt, the associate director of the Migration Policy Institute’s U

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