AILA said over the past few days its members have seen an increase in TSA ICE airline passenger detentions by DHS at U.S. airports during domestic travel. The reports cover clients in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia.
The practice alert points members to a broader pattern rather than a single airport case. AILA also said the reported detentions include people whose lawful status has expired but who may have timely filed adjustment of status or asylum applications, putting them in a period of authorized stay.
AILA Client Resources Committee
AILA said its Client Resources Committee is planning to publish flyers in the near future for members to share with clients as travel warnings. The group is also encouraging members to report these enforcement actions through AILA’s Enforcement Tracker.
For members advising clients, the immediate step is to treat domestic air travel as a risk point for anyone not in lawful status. AILA specifically said members should speak to clients who are not in lawful status about those risks before they travel.
Enforcement Tracker
The reports include people with no criminal records and people who have valid work authorization or advance parole documents. That combination complicates the usual expectation that travel documents alone will prevent a detention, because the cases described by AILA cut across status categories and paperwork types.
AILA’s reporting also places the issue across a wide geographic spread, which suggests members are seeing the same pattern in more than one state at the same time. A traveler who falls into one of those categories can still face enforcement attention at an airport during domestic travel, so the practical response is to check travel risk before departure and use the reporting channel AILA identified if an enforcement action occurs.
Domestic travel risks
The open question is what DHS criteria are leading to detention of people with valid work authorization or advance parole documents. Until AILA members see a clearer pattern, the near-term response is documentation, warning clients in advance, and reporting each case through AILA’s Enforcement Tracker.
