"This Is the First Time in 38 Years"... Real-Time Situation Unfolds at U.S. Airports

NYT Reports: "ICE Agents Arresting at Check-in Counters"


Engineers Awaiting Visa Extensions Among Those Detained


Immigrants Now Wary of Domestic Travel in the U.S.

As the Trump Administration’s immigration crackdown extends to airports, reports have emerged that even those who were not previously major targets—such as green card applicants and individuals awaiting employment visa extensions—are now being detained.

U.S. President Donald Trump. AP Yonhap News

On July 28 (local time), Yonhap News quoted The New York Times (NYT) as reporting that, in recent weeks, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in plain clothes have detained foreign nationals at check-in counters and arrival gates at a minimum of 15 airports. According to NYT, which based its report on acquired documents and interviews with immigration attorneys, "while some arrests were conducted quietly, others occurred in front of outraged fellow passengers who filmed the incidents."

ICE enforcement at airports had previously focused primarily on immigrants with deportation orders. However, it is now reported that the scope has expanded to include individuals whose visas have expired but who are in the process of extending them or applying for permanent residency. Those detained include people married to U.S. citizens who were in the process of applying for green cards as well as engineers waiting for their employment visa extensions.

This expansion of enforcement appears to be the result of increased information sharing between the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and ICE. According to the NYT, "ICE has long shared airline data with the TSA to track immigrants with deportation orders, but the scope now appears to have widened to include immigrants who have overstayed their authorized periods of stay in the U.S."

A photo to aid understanding of the article showing people crowding at Harry Reid Airport in Las Vegas, USA. Photo by AP Yonhap News.

The reason ICE agents are now stationed at airports stems from the partial federal government shutdown that began in February. As TSA staff shortages led to longer security lines, the government deployed ICE agents to major airports—including Atlanta, Chicago, New York, and Houston—ostensibly to assist with TSA work.

Each year, estimates suggest that several hundred thousand immigrants and visitors overstay the periods specified on their visas in the United States. Among them are individuals whose visas have expired but who are awaiting extensions or green card reviews and have been granted work permits. In the past, unless they had criminal records, these individuals were not prioritized for deportation and were rarely detained while awaiting review. However, the Trump Administration has reportedly regarded visa overstays themselves as illegal and has made them targets of enforcement.

Among immigrant communities, there is a growing sense of caution even about traveling within the U.S. Shannon Sheppard, an immigration attorney in Chicago, said, "In the past, I would tell clients they could travel domestically as long as they had an ID, but now I advise those undergoing status changes to avoid travel altogether." The attorney for an Indian engineer who was detained while awaiting an employment authorization extension remarked, "I've practiced immigration law for 38 years, and I've never seen anything like this."

In response, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated that being under review does not provide legal grounds for remaining in the country. DHS explained, "Neither pending applications nor employment authorizations confer any type of lawful status within the United States."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.