United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have begun arresting foreign nationals with expired visas at airports across the country, including spouses of US citizens, according to documents obtained by The New York Times.
The enforcement operation has also targeted skilled foreign workers awaiting visa renewals, former exchange programme participants and other migrants with pending immigration applications.
Some of the arrests were reportedly carried out discreetly by plain-clothes immigration officers at airport check-in counters and arrival gates, while others attracted public attention after fellow passengers recorded and shared videos of the incidents on social media.
According to The New York Times, the operations have taken place at no fewer than 15 airports in recent weeks.
The newspaper said it spoke with immigration lawyers representing more than 25 individuals from over a dozen countries who were recently detained at airports. It also reviewed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) documents relating 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.
The arrests form part of ICE’s wider enforcement strategy, with the agency reportedly aiming to carry out about 2,000 arrests each day as President Donald Trump’s administration intensifies efforts to remove undocumented migrants from the United States.
Among the reported cases is a Ugandan woman living with sickle cell anaemia who was detained despite having an active asylum application.
A separate CNN report stated that another woman was arrested at an airport in the Washington, DC, area while travelling to Texas to join her family ahead of her father’s funeral, according to her immigration lawyer, Joe Moravec.
The woman, who requested anonymity, had entered the United States legally and is seeking asylum. She is currently being held in Virginia.
The New York Times report did not specify all the nationalities affected by the enforcement operation.
According to the DHS 2024 visa overstay report, 989 Nigerians on F, M and J visas, covering students and exchange visitors, remained in the United States after their visas expired, representing an overstay rate of 11.90 per cent.
The report also showed that 6,917 Nigerians on B-1/B-2 visitor visas overstayed their authorised period of stay, resulting in an overstay rate of 5.56 per cent.