A newly proposed bill in Congress would restrict the Department of Homeland Security from using airline passenger information for immigration enforcement, following growing scrutiny over a previously undisclosed data-sharing agreement between the Transportation Security Administration and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The “No TSA Data for ICE Act,” introduced earlier this month by U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit), comes amid concerns over how information collected from passengers for air travel is being used by federal immigration authorities.
The legislation would prohibit the Homeland Security secretary from accessing or using information obtained from TSA to carry out functions of ICE or U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The restriction would apply whether the information is accessed directly or indirectly, including through Mobile Fortify or a similar application.
The bill would also prohibit the use of personally identifiable information about airline passengers obtained from private-sector data brokers for those purposes.
Tlaib introduced the legislation after the disclosure of a May 2025 memorandum of agreement between TSA and ICE that established a formal framework for the agencies to coordinate the sharing, storage and management of information.
The agreement was obtained by American Oversight, a nonprofit government watchdog organization, after it sued TSA and ICE under the Freedom of Information Act seeking records about the agencies’ cooperation.
The agreement cites the Secure Flight Final Rule, the federal regulation governing the collection and use of passenger information for aviation security, as the legal basis for TSA’s participation in the arrangement.
Tlaib’s office said TSA has shared passenger names, birth dates and other information with ICE, and linked the practice to an increase in immigration arrests at airports across the country. Her office said those targeted have included immigrants in the process of changing their status, including people awaiting visa extensions, those with employment authorization documents and people who recently married U.S. citizens.
“TSA is complicit in ICE expanding its chaos and cruelty to target our communities in our airports and has been openly lying about it,” Tlaib said in a statement announcing the legislation.
“Through an information-sharing agreement signed in 2025, TSA is readily offering up our immigrant residents to suffer at the hands of ICE agents so they can fulfill their daily arrest quota. One source from ICE even said it makes for ‘easy targets’ at airports—a disgusting exploitation of immigrants in status limbo. Immigrants should be able to safely fly in this country without the fear of arrest or deportation.”
The legislation has also drawn opposition from TSA.
In a statement provided to Fox News, a TSA spokesperson argued the proposed restrictions could weaken information sharing within DHS and make the United States more vulnerable to national security threats.
The spokesperson invoked the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in criticizing the proposal, arguing that DHS was established in part to prevent federal agencies from operating with information gaps that could prevent them from identifying threats.
“DHS was established to prevent information silos that could create blind spots against threats. Does Rep. Tlaib want our enemies to be empowered to attack the U.S. again?” the TSA spokesperson told Fox News.
The legislation would also extend beyond the use of passenger information for immigration enforcement.
Under the bill, DHS would be prohibited from denying, suspending or prematurely terminating a person’s enrollment in certain trusted traveler programs because of the person’s participation in an activity protected by the First Amendment.
“When people fly, they should be able to trust that TSA won’t divulge their sensitive information or use it for political retaliation,” said Tlaib in the press release.
“TSA has broken that trust in a gross violation of people’s First Amendment rights. This data sharing should terrify all of us. It does nothing to make us safer, but rather endangers the basic rights of all Americans and worsens our mass surveillance crisis.”
Tlaib’s office said the legislation has also been endorsed by 66 organizations, including the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, National Immigration Law Center, Amnesty International USA, United We Dream Network and the Center for Constitutional Rights.
New bill seeks to limit TSA data sharing with ICE was first published by Michigan Latino News and is republished with permission.
Angeles Ponpa is the Managing Editor of Latino News Network Midwest, overseeing Illinois Latino News, Wisconsin Latino News, and Michigan Latino News. She is based in Illinois.
