Immigration and Customs Enforcement is conducting widespread arrests at airports across the United States, detaining approximately 20 to 40 people daily according to Department of Homeland Security officials. The arrests, documented at more than a dozen airports in at least nine states, include visa overstayers, spouses of U.S. citizens, skilled workers awaiting extensions, asylum seekers, and people with pending immigration applications. According to immigration attorneys, many of those detained have no criminal record and held valid work authorization, parole documents, or pending applications. Specific cases include Chantal Morales, an Ecuadorian woman detained at Denver International Airport on July 20 while boarding a Southwest flight; Iryna Gorb, a Ukrainian woman detained at San Francisco International Airport on July 22; Daniel Uguetazú, a Venezuelan asylum-seeker detained at Atlanta airport; and Paul, an Indian national with torture protection status who suffered a heart attack during ICE processing at Dulles Airport. In one incident at Dallas airport, a Southwest Airlines gate agent refused to allow a federal agent to board a plane without a court-signed warrant and airline employees blocked ICE from viewing computer screens during passenger boarding. ICE identifies targets by cross-referencing Transportation Security Administration traveler data against immigration enforcement databases; TSA provided ICE with information on more than 31,000 travelers that resulted in more than 800 arrests between early 2025 and February 2026.