The Trump administration began arresting foreign citizens with expired United States visas as they travelled through airports. The New York Times reported the development on 28 July 2026. Officials based the account on documents obtained from the Department of Homeland Security and interviews with immigration lawyers.
Immigration agents in plain clothes carried out the arrests at check-in counters and arrival gates. Enforcement actions took place at at least 15 airports in recent weeks. Some arrests occurred quietly. Others unfolded as fellow passengers filmed the encounters.
The recent arrests expanded an arrangement between the Transportation Security Administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Previously, agents targeted individuals with existing deportation orders. The programme then included people with expired visas. This group formed a much larger pool for potential deportation.
The Times reviewed Homeland Security documents and spoke with lawyers representing more than 25 people from over a dozen countries. Those detained included an engineer awaiting a work-visa extension, several newlyweds married to United States citizens, and a former au pair.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson issued a statement. The spokesperson said, “DHS reversed the horrendous Biden-era policy that allowed aliens in our country illegally to jet around our country.”
The statement continued, “This administration is working diligently to ensure that aliens in our country illegally can no longer fly unless it is out of our country to self-deport.”
Meanwhile, the administration set a target of 2,000 immigration arrests a day. This figure roughly doubled the earlier pace recorded in the year.
