Airlines are handing your data to ICE — civil rights groups now want Congress to stop it

Most people don’t really think about what happens after they book a flight and safely land at their destination. You probably just think about whether you could’ve gotten better service if you’d flown Economy Plus. Turns out, the airlines care much more than you thought they did—how you flew, where, and even how you paid. All of this is collected and, in some cases, sold to government agencies like U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The LA protests are still ongoing, largely in response to ICE’s aggressive methods and Trump’s characteristic overreach. There have been violations of journalists’ First Amendment rights, a legally questionable deployment of the National Guard, and now a curfew across the LA area. All of this, reportedly, to hound fewer than 200 immigrants in the city. Understandably, public interest in how ICE even obtains its information has surged.

Wired has gotten to the bottom of the mystery. A new report reveals that a data broker tied to the largest airlines in the U.S. has been collecting and selling passenger data to government agencies. The specific data being sold includes passenger names, full flight itineraries, destinations, and financial information.

The shadowy data broker is called the Airline Reporting Commission (ARC), an entity owned and operated by board members from major U.S. airlines like United and Delta—as well as international partners like Lufthansa and Air France. ARC handles a massive portion of international travel data and was originally intended to use this information for safety monitoring and fraud prevention.

Customs and Border Protection claims it purchases this data only to follow up on “persons of interest” and insists it uses the information in a “legal and responsible” manner. These agencies reportedly search through names and credit card numbers. A critical detail, however, is that this data can only be accessed if you book through ARC-accredited travel agents like Expedia, Orbitz, or even traditional travel agencies. If you book directly with the airline, your data is not on the ARC database being sold to government agencies like ICE.

Civil rights groups, including the Center for Democracy & Technology’s Security and Surveillance Project, have called this practice “deeply concerning.” They argue that it bypasses subpoenas and warrants, effectively stripping away legal safeguards that exist to protect citizens. According to them, agencies are buying this data as a way to dodge the oversight that is fundamental to democracy — very similar to what the Trump administration is attempting with habeas corpus.

Earlier this year, DOGE was already reported to be data-mining, and there are rising concerns that this kind of information could also end up in the hands of technocrats like Elon Musk. The Center is urging Congress to intervene immediately. Senator Ron Wyden has already spoken out, calling the ARC’s practices “shady,” and said the group has ignored his oversight inquiries.

These are frightening times. The Trump administration appears to be systematically working to circumvent every right meant to protect Americans, inching the country closer to what many fear is becoming a surveillance state.