On Monday, Oakland’s airport unveiled a program that takes travelers back to the old days, allowing non-flying visitors to pass through security so they can greet or send off family and friends right at the gate.
The OAK Guest Pass program is one of several recent efforts by the airport to make itself more attractive to customers. On Tuesday, Mayor Barbara Lee and other officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for District, a new restaurant opening in Terminal 2. Sixteen new retail outlets will be operating out of the airport by the end of this year.
“The OAK Guest Pass allows families to spend more precious time with their loved ones as they see them off on their next adventure or welcome them home from one,” Kristi McKenney, the Port of Oakland’s executive director, said in a press statement.
San Francisco plans to launch a similar guest pass program, and airports in San Diego and Palm Springs have already done so, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Anyone seeking an OAK Guest Pass must file an online application with the Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport that asks for their date of birth, gender, and full legal name and asks them to scan their passport or state-issued ID. The Transportation Security Administration then reviews each application before granting approval.
That last step could pose a risk to some visitors.
On Friday, the New York Times reported that the TSA has become a major player in the Trump administration’s efforts to engage in a sweeping deportation campaign. According to the paper, the TSA shares lists of air passengers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement multiple times a week. ICE officials have used these lists to find people in their own database subject to deportation, then showed up at airports to detain them.
While there’s no clear data on how often this happens, ICE arrests at airports have nearly doubled over the last year, according to data obtained by the Deportation Data Project. The Times also reported that the TSA’s data-sharing practice is responsible for several high-profile arrests, including a 19-year-old college student who was recently deported to Honduras after being detained at an airport in Boston.
Oakland airport officials told us last week that the TSA hasn’t told them about whether information on OAK travelers is being passed to ICE. A spokesperson for the TSA ducked the question but said the Trump 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.”
It’s unclear if the TSA plans to hand over data obtained through the OAK Guest Pass program to federal immigration authorities. The agency did not immediately respond to our inquiries.
Matt Davis, the port’s chief press officer, told The Oaklandside that every passenger who submits their name to purchase an airline ticket is automatically referred to the TSA by the airline they’re using.
“The screening process to receive an OAK Guest Pass and at other airports is the same as submitting a name to purchase an airline ticket, and participants still must pass through TA security checks without prohibited substances,” the spokesperson said in a text message. “The Port of Oakland is a local agency and does not control the federal aviation screening process.”
The guest pass website includes an FAQ, which notes that per the TSA Privacy Act, the agency may share information with law enforcement or intelligence agencies.
Under Trump, federal immigration authorities have engaged in a sprawling search for new ways to locate people who might be subject to deportation. The Financial Times recently reported that the Department of Homeland Security, the agency that houses ICE, uses a range of surveillance tools to find people, including DNA tests, eye scans, spyware, license plate cameras, and credit reports. Immigration authorities are also turning to other federal agencies for information on residents. Earlier this year, news outlets reported that ICE secured an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service to obtain sensitive data on taxpayers.
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