The Trump administration has previously sought to use IRS tax data to identify people it suspects of being undocumented.
The deportation of a Guatemalan mother and daughter who were detained before boarding a flight raises new questions about how the Trump administration is using government databases for immigration enforcement.
The U.S. Transportation Safety Administration reportedly notified Immigration and Customs Enforcement that Angelina Lopez-Jimenez and her 9-year-old daughter, both of whom had final removal orders, had an upcoming March 22 domestic flight from San Francisco International Airport. That night, plainclothes ICE officers detained them at the California airport, seen in viral videos circulated on social media.
Immigrant rights groups say the detention of Lopez-Jimenez, 41, and her daughter marks a new phase in President Donald Trump's mass deportation efforts, which is relying in part on an array of government data to identify undocumented people it deems deportable. Critics worry the federal government is building surveillance systems that know too much about everyday people.
