TSA official clarifies passenger data-sharing protocols with ICE

A Transportation Security Administration official confirmed Wednesday that the agency is helping Immigration and Customs Enforcement with its deportation efforts — but pushed back on claims that it sends personally identifiable information of all passengers to ICE. 

“That is not what is occurring,” Ha Nguyen McNeill, a TSA senior official performing the duties of the administrator, said during a House Homeland Security hearing. “We don’t send the information to ICE; we help ICE check against information.”

McNeill said TSA is acting within its authority to share information across the department to further its national security mission. 

“We are supporting the mission of our colleagues at the Department of Homeland Security, and that includes enforcement of immigration laws,” McNeill said. 

TSA’s passenger data represents just one element of the massive data estate that ICE is working to build to advance deportation efforts.  

Late last year, court documents revealed ICE requested nearly 1.3 million taxpayer records as part of a data-sharing agreement between the immigration enforcers and the IRS, although the tax agency can no longer share taxpayer addresses with ICE following a November ruling. 

ICE and Homeland Security Investigations are already leaning on data from the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The American Civil Liberties Union alleged ICE is also scouring social media and cell phone location data, according to a report published earlier this month.

The DHS division has not been shy about its insatiable appetite for data, opting to remove limitations and broaden authorities. Lawmakers and advocacy groups have pushed for guardrails, independent auditing and transparency. 

The TSA and ICE data-sharing practice comes at a time when Congress is looking to bolster funding for the department, a potential sticking point as the Jan. 30 deadline approaches. ICE and Customs and Border Protection, for example, are set to receive $28 billion to deploy high-tech surveillance tools, among other initiatives. DHS will also have $2 million to, in part, fuel data-sharing partnerships.

The New York Times first reported the TSA and ICE data-sharing partnership last month, spurring a number of advocacy groups to begin releasing guides and alerts for individuals potentially impacted by the practice.