Following Covert ICE Operations at Bradley, Larson Announces Introduction of Bill Immediately Ending TSA Coordination with ICE
Hartford, CT – Today, Rep. John B. Larson (CT-01) announced the introduction of the No TSA Data for ICE Act. Itwould immediately cut off the coordination between the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that enabled recent covert operations at Bradley—where residents were snatched out of security lines by unidentified ICE agents. The bill would also prevent the Department of Homeland Security from retaliating against critics of ICE and the Trump Administration by revoking their status in trusted traveler programs, including TSA PreCheck and Global Entry.
Recent bombshell reporting revealed that ICE agents are covertly operating, in coordination with TSA, to carry out Donald Trump’s cruel mass deportation agenda at Connecticut airports. In addition to the covert operations at Bradley, ICE has stepped up enforcement at airports across the country. The Connecticut Airport Authority was never notified of these actions and has still not been briefed on how many people have been taken so far.
“The news of covert ICE operations at our airports, where Donald Trump’s secret police snatched residents in our state straight out of security lines, was a national outrage,” said Larson. “Since then, we have learned that TSA was sharing passenger flight data directly with ICE, including names, addresses, and even credit card numbers—while they leave state and local law enforcement, and even the Connecticut Airport Authority, in the dark. Trump’s Department of Homeland Security has shown that they cannot be trusted with anyone’s personal data. I am proud to announce the introduction of this urgent legislation ending the coordination between TSA and ICE that enabled these secret raids at Bradley. Armed with your private information, ICE has only continued their Gestapo tactics: ripping families apart, gunning down residents, and executing U.S. citizens in broad daylight. They are past reform. They need to be abolished.”
In addition to Larson, the No TSA Data for ICE Act was introduced by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), and is cosponsored by Reps. Yassamin Ansari (AZ-03), André Carson (IN-07), Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07), Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04), Sylvia R. Garcia (TX-29), Adelita S. Grijalva (AZ-07), Val Hoyle (OR-04), Henry C. “Hank” Johnson, Jr. (GA-04), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37), Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-08), Greg Landsman (OH-01), Summer L. Lee (PA-12), April McClain Delaney (MD-06), Morgan McGarvey (KY-03), Christian Menefee (TX-18), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), Emily Randall (WA-06), Andrea Salinas (OR-06), Lateefah Simon (CA-12), Shri Thanedar (MI-13), Nydia M. Velázquez (NY-07), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), and Nikema Williams (GA-05).
The No TSA Data for ICE Act is endorsed by 65 organizations, including: Amnesty International USA, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Center for Law and Social Policy, Church World Service, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, Fight for the Future, Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees, Immigrant Defenders Law Center, Just Detention International, Migrant Support Collective, Movement for Black Lives Action Fund, MPower Change Action Fund, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, National Network for Arab American Communities, National Partnership for New Americans, Never Again Action, No Concentration Camps US, Oasis Legal Services, Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans, Public Citizen, Restore The Fourth Action, RootsAction, UndocuBlack Network, United We Dream Network, and We are CASA.
“Handing travelers’ private information over to immigration agents isn’t about safety or security. It’s about turbocharging the already violent and deadly immigration enforcement happening in real time across the country that has claimed the lives of neighbors and fathers like Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Johan Sebastian Guerrero,” said Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, Deputy Director of Advocacy and Campaigns at United We Dream. “As immigration enforcement exploits databases, expands surveillance, and targets travelers across the country, Congress has a mandate to protect the safety and rights of the American people from the administration’s growing overreach and put an end to the cycle of tragedy that follows when communities are forced to live under fear. We urge Congress to pass the No TSA Data for ICE Act now.”
“The Trump administration continues to expand and entrench its mass deportation campaign against non-citizens with near zero concern for existing laws, including constitutional rights and obligatory international norms,” said Brad Parker, Associate Director of Policy at the Center for Constitutional Rights. “The No TSA Data for ICE Act is a simple, practical measure to protect non-citizen asylum seekers and block the targeting of individuals because they oppose authoritarian policies of the Trump administration.”
Full bill text is available HERE.