Imagine hopping on a domestic flight in the U.S., breezing through airport security with the usual checkpoint routine: showing your ID, passing through metal detectors, and maybe getting a pat-down if the machines decide to be finicky. Now, imagine standing in line next to someone who is about to board the same plane as you—but without any government-issued ID in hand.
Sound far-fetched? Well, according to a new report by the Office of Inspector General (OIG), it’s happening more often than you think, and it’s raising serious security concerns. The OIG’s report, released on September 30, 2024, revealed a major flaw in how U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) are handling noncitizens who enter the United States without proper identification. Even worse, these individuals are being allowed to board domestic flights with little more than a self-reported name and a vetting process that doesn’t fully mitigate the risks.
Why Was the Evaluation Conducted?
Let’s start with the basics. The primary responsibility of CBP and ICE is to verify the identity of noncitizens who are seeking entry into the U.S. It sounds simple enough, right? But what happens when a noncitizen enters the country without identification? According to federal law, noncitizens who don’t have any form of ID should be detained and not allowed entry. But there’s a loophole here: CBP and ICE officials are given discretion to release noncitizens into the U.S. under certain circumstances, often based solely on biographical information provided by the individuals themselves.
This brings us to the TSA, the agency tasked with screening every individual who intends to board a domestic flight. As we all know, TSA requires ID from every passenger. So how are these noncitizens, without any ID, able to fly? The OIG wanted to find out whether CBP, ICE, and TSA have appropriate policies in place to ensure that these individuals are properly identified before they are allowed on a plane—and whether the TSA’s screening process is as robust as it should be for these cases.
What Did OIG Discover?
According to the OIG’s findings, while CBP and ICE have some policies and procedures to verify the identity of noncitizens, they’re not always able to fully confirm who these people are. The crux of the issue? Noncitizens without proper ID are being released into the U.S. and are later allowed to travel domestically, including by air. When noncitizens don’t have ID that the TSA recognizes as valid (such as a passport or driver’s license), they are still allowed to board flights. Before doing so, TSA officers subject them to additional vetting, including querying law enforcement and immigration databases, and performing physical security checks like pat-downs.
However, the OIG warns that these extra measures don’t eliminate the risk that someone who poses a security threat could still end up on a plane. In other words, even with all of TSA’s additional screening, there’s no guarantee that the person boarding your flight is who they say they are—or that they don’t pose a potential danger to fellow passengers.
The report further points out that the current processes used by CBP and ICE don’t ensure that high-risk individuals without proper identification are being kept out of the country in the first place. Worse yet, the TSA’s vetting and screening procedures are not designed to fully mitigate the risks of letting these individuals board flights once they are in the U.S.
So, What Exactly Is the Problem?
The OIG’s report zeroes in on three major concerns:
- Incomplete Identification: CBP and ICE often release noncitizens into the U.S. without being able to fully verify their identity. This means they are essentially taking these individuals at their word, relying on self-reported information to issue immigration forms. When noncitizens don’t have acceptable ID for domestic travel, TSA uses these immigration forms and other screening tools—but even then, the process leaves gaps.
- Inadequate Vetting for Air Travel: While TSA goes beyond its standard protocols when screening noncitizens without ID (e.g., conducting pat-downs and querying law enforcement databases), these measures don’t completely remove the risk. There’s still the possibility that someone who poses a security threat could slip through the cracks and board a flight.
- Public Safety Risk: By releasing individuals without verifying their identity and allowing them to travel without proper ID, there’s a real concern for public safety. Without strong, foolproof identification protocols, both for entry into the U.S. and for air travel, high-risk individuals could potentially harm other passengers or the broader public.
The Recommendations—and DHS’s Surprising Response
Given the serious nature of these findings, the OIG made three recommendations aimed at improving how CBP, ICE, and TSA handle noncitizens without proper identification:
- Enhance Risk Assessments: The OIG urged DHS to create stronger policies and procedures that would allow CBP and ICE to more effectively assess the risks posed by noncitizens without identification before they are released into the U.S.
- Strengthen TSA Vetting: The report called on TSA to implement more rigorous screening and vetting procedures for noncitizens without acceptable forms of ID before they are allowed to board domestic flights.
- Public Safety Safeguards: The final recommendation focused on improving coordination between CBP, ICE, and TSA to ensure that high-risk individuals are identified and kept off planes, mitigating the potential risks to public safety.
However, in a move that left many scratching their heads, DHS did not concur with any of the recommendations. That’s right: despite the clear security risks identified in the report, DHS essentially disagreed with the need to take further action.
Why DHS’s Disagreement Is Alarming
It’s not every day that an Inspector General’s report highlights glaring security gaps, only to have the relevant department reject its recommendations outright. By refusing to concur with the OIG’s findings, DHS is essentially saying that the current processes in place are good enough, despite the fact that the OIG report demonstrates otherwise.
For passengers who rely on the TSA to keep them safe in the air, this is deeply concerning. After all, if the system allows individuals without verifiable identification to board flights, how can anyone feel secure? Furthermore, DHS’s reluctance to act could potentially allow these security gaps to widen, making the U.S. aviation system even more vulnerable to exploitation.
What’s Next?
The OIG has left the ball in DHS’s court, requesting a formal response within 90 days. While the report is now public and will be shared with congressional committees, it’s unclear whether DHS will face additional pressure to address the concerns raised. What is clear, however, is that for now, the issue remains unresolved—and that’s not the kind of news frequent fliers want to hear.
This security blind spot is a wake-up call, and only time will tell whether DHS steps up to ensure that all passengers, regardless of their documentation status, are properly vetted before they take to the skies.
