ICE detains Johns Hopkins researcher while boarding flight
- Fatima Ameaka, a Johns Hopkins public health researcher, was arrested by federal agents at Baltimore-Washington International Airport for allegedly overstaying her visa and is currently detained in Louisiana.
- Her arrest and detention, first reported by The Baltimore Banner, follows a spike in airport arrests and a growing coordination between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Transportation Security Administration.
- Newly revealed memorandums detail a data-sharing agreement that grants ICE access to passenger information, with TSA providing names and birth dates of travelers believed to have removal orders.
- This formal partnership appears to contradict congressional testimony from Acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill regarding the extent of information sharing between the agencies.
- Watchdog group American Oversight criticized the agreement, stating that passenger data should not be used for immigration enforcement, a policy aligned with the Trump administration’s focus on widespread deportations.
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