Tlaib introduces bill to prevent data sharing from TSA to federal immigration authorities

A new bill introduced Tuesday by U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit) would ban the Transportation and Security Administration from sharing passenger information with federal immigration agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. 

The legislation was introduced after American Oversight, a nonpartisan watchdog organization, released a Memorandum of Agreement between TSA and ICE that they obtained via the Freedom of Information Act, which details a data-sharing agreement between the two agencies. The specifics of what will be shared by each agency were all redacted in the released document.

Tlaib raised concerns that the details in the agreement, which was signed in May 2025, go against the sworn testimony of acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill in January 2025, in which she testified that, regarding passenger information, TSA does not “send the information to ICE; we help ICE check against [TSA] information.”

“When people fly, they should be able to trust that TSA won’t divulge their sensitive information or use it for political retaliation,” Tlaib said in a press release from her office. “TSA has broken that trust in a gross violation of people’s First Amendment rights. This data sharing should terrify all of us. It does nothing to make us safer, but rather endangers the basic rights of all Americans and worsens our mass surveillance crisis.”

The legislation specifically states that the Secretary of Homeland Security would not be able to access specified information, which is defined as information directly from TSA or “personally identifiable information of a flight passenger” that comes “from a private sector entity that brokers such data,” for the functions of ICE or CBP.

It also would make it so that the Secretary of Homeland Security could not deny, suspend or terminate someone’s enrollment in a program such as TSA PreCheck or Global Entry based on their “participation in an activity protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States,” including anti-ICE protests.

“TSA is proud to support our DHS partners in our shared mission to secure the homeland,” a TSA spokesperson wrote in response to the legislation. “SOPD Administrator McNeill’s testimony confirms that commitment.”

“As we approach the 25th anniversary of the horrific terror attacks of 9/11, it’s not shocking that some in the Democrat Party would want to neuter the Department of Homeland Security’s ability to protect Americans from terrorists,” the TSA statement continued. “DHS was established to prevent information silos that could create blind spots against threats.”

The legislation has 25 Democratic co-sponsors, including U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Detroit). It was referred to the House Homeland Security Committee, where it is unlikely to get a hearing in the Republican-led Congress.

Regardless, a coalition of 65 organizations — ranging from local to national groups — endorsed the legislation, according to Tlaib’s press release. 

“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.”