Washington, DC — The New York Times recently revealed that the Trump administration has directed its Transportation Security Agency (TSA) to share the names of all domestic air travelers – including U.S. citizens – with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in pursuit of its mass deportation agenda. As reporter Hamed Aleaziz noted:
“ICE has historically avoided interfering with domestic travel. But the partnership between airport security and the immigration agency, which began quietly in March, is the latest way the Trump administration is increasing cooperation and information sharing between federal agencies in service of the president’s goal of carrying out the largest deportation campaign in U.S. history.”
Of note, the NYTimes scoop is just the latest reminder that every facet of the federal government is being deployed to support Stephen Miller’s mass deportation obsessions, even when the details rely on Big Brother tactics that should raise alarm bells among all Americans.
According to Joanna Kuebler, America’s Voice Director of Programs, “The Trump Administration is turbo-charging the surveillance state and putting the privacy of all Americans in jeopardy. Now they have given ICE full access to your air travel plans. Americans don’t want ICE traveling with them this holiday season nor do they want airport raids that detain moms in airports or deport college kids going home to their families at Thanksgiving. Addicted to abusing power, the Trump administration has gone too far, making every part of the federal government an arm of its anti-immigrant assault. All of their anti-immigrant actions infringe on the rights and privacy of American citizens through mass surveillance “Big Brother” tactics: weaponizing domestic air travel, government-mandated social media audits, increased use of facial recognition in American communities. Digging into people’s IRS tax records and Medicaid databases – and even pressuring private landlords to turn over renters’ information. Americans across the spectrum are rejecting this assault on America and hardworking immigrants. Much is at stake; there is a better way.”
Among the reminders of the creeping surveillance state in support of mass deportation:
- Chicago Sun-Times, “ICE has powerful facial recognition app Illinois cops are barred from using — with little apparent oversight”
- NPR: “What’s on your TikTok page? U.S. looks to scour tourists’ online profiles”
- Associated Press, “Trump administration hands over nation’s Medicaid enrollee data to ICE”
- ProPublica, “The IRS Is Building a Vast System to Share Millions of Taxpayers’ Data With ICE”
- Associated Press, “Immigration agents demand tenant information from landlords, stirring questions and confusion”
- Mother Jones, “Your Private Data Is Building Trump’s Voter Purge Machine”
