US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have reportedly started arresting foreign nationals with expired visas at airports, including some spouses of US citizens, marking a tougher approach to immigration enforcement at ports of entry and departure, according to documents obtained by The New York Times.
According to thecable, skilled foreign workers awaiting visa extensions, former exchange visitors and other migrants with pending immigration applications are also among those being targeted.
Some of the arrests were carried out discreetly by plain-clothes immigration officers at check-in counters and arrival gates.
A few arrests were publicised because angry fellow passengers filmed the encounters.
According to the NYT report published on Wednesday, the enforcement actions took place in at least 15 airports in recent weeks.
The Times also said it interviewed immigration lawyers for more than 25 people from over a dozen countries who were recently detained at airports and reviewed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) documents related to the enforcement actions.
“This administration is working diligently to ensure that aliens in our country illegally can no longer fly unless it is out of our country to self-deport,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement.
One of ICE’s targets is to make about 2,000 arrests a day as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to remove undocumented migrants from the US.
A Ugandan woman with sickle cell anaemia despite having an active asylum application was among the reported cases.
A separate CNN report said a woman was detained at an airport in the Washington, DC, area while travelling home to Texas to be with her family ahead of her father’s funeral, according to Joe Moravec, an immigration attorney who’s representing her.
The woman, who asked not to be identified, entered the US legally and is seeking asylum. She is now being held in Virginia.
The NYT report, however, did not indicate whether the immigration documents identified all the affected countries.
According to the DHS 2024 overstay report, about 989 Nigerians on F, M, and J visas (students and exchange visitors) remained in the US beyond the validity of their visas. The overstay rate was pegged at 11.90 percent in comparison to other countries.
The report also said 6,917 Nigerians who had a B-1/B-2 visa (visitor visa) overstayed their visas, representing an overstay rate of 5.56 percent.
