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    IMMIGRATION                                                              APRIL 10, 2026    |  The Indian Eye 44

                                   ICE Presence at

                    Domestic Airports Blurs

                   the Line Between Airport

                 Security and Immigration

                                         Enforcement

            BY CYRUS D. MEHTA AND      tion’s border czar, has hinted   travelers  who  appear  to  be
                                       that ICE agents may remain   non-U.S.  citizens  or  present
            KAITLYN BOX*
                                       in  airports  even  after  TSA   documents  such  as  foreign
                                       agents  return  to  work.  This   passports immigration status
               n recent weeks, President   measure has raised serious   related  questions,  or  target
               Trump  has  dispatched
            IICE agents to some ma-    concerns among immigration   them for enforcement mea-
                                       advocates  and  immigrant
                                                                   sures.
            jor  airports,  purportedly  to   communities.  Fears  abound
            fill  in  for  TSA  workers  who   that  ICE  agents  may  be  ex-
            are furloughed as a result of   ceeding the scope of normal   The ICE presence in air-
            the DHS shutdown. Tom Ho-  TSA operations, and may ask  ports  may  be  unsettling
            man, the Trump administra-
                                                                      even for travelers
                                                                      who are in a lawful
                                                                      immigration status.
                                                                      Many undocumented

                                                                      individuals fly domes-
                                                                      tically within the Unit-
                                                                                                 This policy is just the lat-
                                                                      ed States, however, as   est in a series of Trump ad-  Avila  v.  Bondi  recently  up-
                                                                                                                         held  the  BIA’s  interpreta-
                                                                      do individuals whose    ministration measures aimed   tion  in  Matter  of    Yajure
                                                                      immigration    status   at  thwarting  immigration   Hurtado,  holding  that  “the

                                                                      may be more ambig-      and facilitating removal. The   structure of § 1225(b)(2)(A)
                                                                                              Trump  administration  has
                                                                                                                         does not indicate that ‘seek-
                                                                      uous – because, for     also  adopted  an  extremely   ing  admission’  is  a  separate
                                                                      example, they are in    broad  interpretation  of  the   requirement for detention
                                                                                                                         under the statute”.
                                                                                              immigration  laws  and    reg-
                                                                      a period of authorized   ulations  in  order  to  expand   The court further found
                                                                      stay after having filed   the  categories  of  nonciti-  that “because the text does
                                                                                              zens  who  can  be  detained
                                                                                                                         not place such emphasis on
                                                                      an adjustment of sta-   without  bond.  In  a  reversal   “seeking  admission,”  and
                         m of                                         tus or asylum appli-    of  longstanding  policy,  the   since  the  phrase  means  vir-
              CYRUS D. MEHTA & PARTNERS PLLC                                                  Board  of  Immigration  Ap-  tually the same thing as ‘ap-
                                                                      cation. If targeted by   peal (BIA) has reinterpreted   plicant for admission,’ in the
                                                                                                 INA 235(b)(2)(A) and INA   context of the statute the two

                 ICE agents in airports   236(a) to hold that nonciti-  phrases are synonymous”.
                                                                      for enhanced scruti-    zens who are present in the     In its decision, the

                                     United  States  after  having   Eighth  Circuit  cited  the

                                                                       ny, these individuals   entered  without  inspection   Fifth  Circuit’s  decision  in
                                                                      could be at risk for    (EWI) are subject to deten-  Buenrostro-Mendez v. Bon-
                                                                      detention or deporta-   tion without bond, whether   di, which held that noncit-
                                                                                                                         izens  who  entered  without
                                                                                              or not they separately “seek
                                                                      tion.
              2              6th Floor                                                        admission”.                inspection  are  ineligible  for

                                               The  Eighth  Circuit  in   bond.

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