Federal immigration authorities are moving to stop undocumented immigrants from flying within the United States, and immigration attorneys are now warning clients, including some with pending cases, not to board domestic flights at all.
The escalation, reported by Latin Times and built on reporting by CNN and TIME, marks a level of enforcement at U.S. airports that immigration lawyers say they have never seen before.
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the effort in a statement to CNN. T
he agency said it is working to ensure that immigrants in the country illegally “can no longer fly unless it is out of our country to self-deport,” as reported by CNN and cited by Latin Times.
DHS said it had reversed a Biden-era policy that previously allowed undocumented immigrants to travel domestically by air.
For travelers without secure legal status, the message from lawyers is blunt: boarding a flight now carries a real risk of arrest.
Roberto Ortiz, a Miami immigration attorney, told CNN he is advising clients not to fly, and other attorneys warned that even noncitizens with pending immigration cases could be detained, according to Latin Times’ account of the CNN reporting.
Jeff Joseph, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told CNN that enforcement at airports is unlike anything seen before, comparing immigrants in the legal process who get detained there to the bait in a mousetrap.
The American Civil Liberties Union has advised noncitizens without secure legal status to weigh the immigration risks of flying, including on domestic routes.
Airports have become a focus of enforcement because they give agents a controlled setting where travelers arrive at predictable times and places, Latin Times reported.
Authorities can also draw on passenger information collected by the Transportation Security Administration. Under a data-sharing agreement that TSA and ICE signed in May 2025, immigration authorities can obtain traveler details such as names and birth dates, according to documents made public through litigation by the watchdog group American Oversight and reported by Latin Times. That means a targeted traveler can be identified before ever reaching the gate.
The push is tied to the administration’s enforcement targets. Attorneys told CNN that airport arrests appear to be happening more often as ICE works toward the administration’s goal of roughly 2,000 arrests a day, Latin Times reported.
The pressure is reaching the airlines themselves. TIME reported on Wednesday that airline employees in Colorado, Texas and Arizona have encountered ICE agents seeking help locating passengers, obtaining airline information and, in some cases, entering restricted areas, according to Latin Times. Workers told TIME that the procedures for handling such requests have at times been unclear, and some have pushed back.
Recent detentions show how far the enforcement now reaches, and that legal status in progress is no guarantee of safety.
Latin Times reported that Diana Andreina Vera Espinoza, a 27-year-old Ecuadorian national, was detained at the Phoenix airport on Aug. 6 while traveling with her U.S.-citizen husband, despite having a pending immigration case, according to her family. In another case, Iliana Noeli Lick, an Argentine national, was detained at Philadelphia International Airport on July 11 while flying domestically to attend a World Cup match and spent about a month in detention; DHS said she had overstayed her visa, but Lick disputes that, saying she had applied for asylum and held work authorization and a Social Security number, Latin Times reported.
What travelers should know
- Immigration attorneys quoted by CNN are advising clients without secure legal status not to fly domestically right now. If someone does not have proper legal documentation and needs to travel to another state, they may wish to consider alternative forms of transportation, such as buses, trains, or other public transit options.
- A pending case, a work permit or a Social Security number does not guarantee safety; attorneys warn that people in the immigration process have been detained at airports.
- DHS can access TSA passenger data, so a targeted traveler may be flagged before reaching the gate.
- The ACLU advises noncitizens without secure status to weigh the risks before flying, including on domestic routes.
- Anyone unsure of their status or options should consult a licensed immigration attorney before making travel plans.
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Source: The Latin Times.
This article was originally written in English. Other language versions are produced using AI translation software, and errors are possible — the English version is authoritative. CTN also uses AI to convert text into audio.
