The acting director of the Transportation Security Administration on Wednesday defended her agency’s practice of sharing information about travelers suspected of having deportation orders with agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a House oversight hearing.
“It is not new policy to share information between the agencies of the Department of Homeland Security,” the acting T.S.A. director, Ha Nguyen McNeill, told lawmakers in a hearing before the Homeland Security Committee. She said her agents were “absolutely” allowing ICE agents access to passenger data to help with their deportation efforts.
The New York Times reported in December that the agency was collaborating with ICE to identify air travelers subject to deportation orders, allowing immigration agents to detain them at airports and quickly deport them.
The practice came under scrutiny after it led to the arrest of Any Lucía López Belloza, a college student detained by immigration authorities at Boston Logan International Airport on Nov. 20 as she prepared to fly home to Texas for Thanksgiving. She was deported to Honduras two days later, despite a court order preventing her removal. The Trump administration later acknowledged that it made a mistake by deporting her.
The Trump administration has deported hundreds of thousands of immigrants since President Trump returned to the White House a year ago, and the harsh methods of ICE agents carrying out the crackdown has incited protests across the nation.
The complaints about ICE tactics have intensified, especially from Democrats, after an immigration agent shot and killed an unarmed U.S. citizen, Renee Good, in Minneapolis earlier this month. The Trump administration has defended the shooting, and conservatives, citing a video of the incident, have said the agent had reason to fear for his life. Democratic officials in Minnesota have used words like “propaganda” to describe the federal government’s account of the shooting.
During the hearing on Wednesday, Democratic lawmakers repeatedly expressed frustration that the acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons, declined a request to testify and so was not there to face questioning.
“The urgency in this country right now is what’s going on with ICE,” said Representative Dan Goldman, Democrat of New York. “Why are we having a hearing with Department of Homeland Security officials who know nothing about ICE?”
With no ICE official to put on the stand, the Democrats peppered Ms. McNeill with questions about her agency’s involvement in immigration operations.
For their part, Republicans on the committee were mostly quiet when it came to the T.S.A.’s collaboration with ICE. “There’s been a lot of talk about ICE, and, unfortunately, really outside the scope of this hearing,” said Representative Andy Ogles, Republican of Tennessee. “And for that, to our witnesses, I apologize.”
Republican committee members praised T.S.A. workers who worked without pay during last year’s government shutdown and challenged how airport security is currently funded in the United States.
They also asked Ms. McNeill about allegations that Somalis had smuggled cash through Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
Representative LaMonica McIver, Democrat of New Jersey, pressed Ms. McNeill whether the T.S.A. had legal authority to share passenger data with ICE agents. Ms. McNeill could not cite a specific statute or policy granting her the authority.
“We are absolutely within our authorities to share information within the Department of Homeland Security to further the national security mission,” she said, before promising to get back to Ms. McIver. “I can get you the exact policy,” she said.
Representative Tim Kennedy, Democrat of New York, asked how many T.S.A. employees had been reassigned to immigration enforcement, but Ms. McNeill initially deflected the question.
When Mr. Kennedy pressed Ms. McNeill about news reports that air marshals from her agency were reassigned to deportation flights from commercial flights, Ms. McNeill said that providing flight security for deportation flights “was not a reassignment” and that it fell “within their mission.”
She rejected the notion that reassigning air marshals to deportation flights from commercial flights might mean a greater risk for ordinary passengers flying in the United States, saying that “providing in-flight security for deportation flights keeps our sky safe.”
The Department of Homeland Security has diverted thousands of federal agents from their normal duties to focus on arresting undocumented immigrants, undermining a wide range of law enforcement operations in response to mounting pressure from Mr. Trump.
Adam Sella covers breaking news for The Times in Washington.
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