Which documented airport arrests have been explicitly linked by reporting to TSA passenger-list sharing, and what were the legal outcomes?
Executive summary
Reporting so far ties a small set of named airport arrests directly to a TSA-to-ICE passenger-list program: most prominently the November arrest and rapid deportation of Any Lucía López Belloza at Boston Logan, and at least one other named detention of a DACA recipient, Catalina “Xochitl” Santiago, reported as tied to arrivals after TSA screening; beyond those examples the public record is fragmentary and agencies have not released aggregate outcomes [1] [2] [3].
1. The high-profile Boston case that reporters explicitly link to TSA list-sharing
The New York Times documents show that Any Lucía López Belloza, a 19-year-old college student, was identified through the new passenger-list sharing process and was arrested at Boston Logan International Airport on Nov. 20 and deported to Honduras two days later, with reporting linking the arrest to the TSA-provided data used by ICE [1] [4].
2. Other named detentions reported as connected — a DACA recipient and regional tips
Local reporting and the Times’ reporting also identify Catalina “Xochitl” Santiago, a DACA recipient, as having been detained by Border Patrol after clearing TSA for a work trip in August; local outlets say the Arizona arrest record from 2021 was later described by authorities as dropped for insufficient information, and reporters linked this airport detention to the same DHS-era information-sharing environment described by the Times [2]. The Times additionally documents that a Pacific Enforcement Response Center office was sending tips to ICE nationwide that fed the airport enforcement activity [5].
3. What reporting says about legal outcomes for those arrested via the program
For the Boston case the documented legal outcome is explicit: López Belloza was detained at Logan and deported to Honduras within 48 hours, a sequence that the Times ties to TSA-originated passenger data [1]. For Santiago, local reporting indicates the prior drug-possession case that was cited in the arrest had been dropped for insufficient information, but the public reporting does not supply a clear final immigration disposition tied to the airport detention [2]. Beyond these named examples, public reporting does not provide comprehensive, case-by-case legal outcomes—outcomes such as removals, prosecutions, cancellations or stays are not publicly tallied by TSA or ICE in the documents cited [3] [1].
4. Estimates, internal claims, and the limits of public data
Several outlets quote a former ICE official who said in at least one region approximately 75 percent of cases flagged via the passenger-list process led to arrests, but that figure is regional, anonymous, and unconfirmed in public agency disclosures; the Times and other summaries emphasize that the full scale and exact number of arrests resulting from TSA list-sharing are unknown because DHS has not published aggregate metrics [6] [7] [8] [3].
5. Competing narratives: enforcement goals versus civil‑liberties and due‑process concerns
Supporters of the practice portray the sharing as an effective way to locate people with final removal orders and to prevent air travel by those ordered removed [9]; critics and civil‑liberties commentators warn the program turns aviation manifests into immigration dragnets, risks mistaken identity, cuts off access to counsel in gate arrests, and may result in deportations executed before timely judicial challenges—concerns raised in reporting and legal commentary [10] [9] [4].
6. Hidden drivers and institutional context reported by journalists
Reporting places the program inside a broader DHS enforcement push, citing internal pressure to increase arrests—including public reporting that a White House staffer floated large arrest targets—and describes operational hubs like the Pacific Enforcement Response Center routing tips to local officers; these elements help explain how passenger-list matches translate into rapid airport operations, but also indicate policy imperatives that may bias the system toward rapid arrest rather than careful case review [1] [5].
7. Bottom line and what remains unreported
Documented, reporting-linked airport arrests explicitly tied to TSA passenger-list sharing are few in name in the public record—López Belloza’s Boston arrest and deportation is the clearest example, with Santiago’s detention cited in local reporting—while broader counts, case outcomes beyond the named examples, and agency protocols remain undisclosed, leaving major questions about scale, error rates, and safeguards unanswered [1] [2] [3].