Johns Hopkins Researcher Arrested By Ice At Baltimore Airport

A nationalist wellness interrogator astatine Johns Hopkins University is locked up successful an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center successful Louisiana aft her apprehension by national agents while boarding a home formation successful Baltimore this week

Fatima Ameaka, a elder expert astatine nan Center for Outbreak Response Innovation successful nan Bloomberg School of Public Health, is simply a erstwhile Fulbright clever clever primitively from Cameroon. Immigration officers arrested her astatine nan Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport for allegedly overstaying a visa.

She was astir precocious being held astatine nan South Louisiana ICE Processing Center astir 90 miles from Baton Rouge, according to nan agency’s detainee locator system.

Her apprehension and detention, first reported by The Baltimore Banner, follows a spike successful airdrome arrests and a increasing coordination betwixt ICE and nan Transportation Security Administration, pinch precocious unveiled memorandums detailing a data-sharing statement that grants officers entree to rider accusation for “aviation security.”

There are myriad reasons why an different “legal” migrant whitethorn person “overstayed” pinch an expired visa, including clip lapsed while navigating nan byzantine bureaucracy of visa renewals and seeking imperishable ineligible status. But Donald Trump’s management has prioritized virtually each lawsuit for apprehension and removal nether nan president’s government-wide efforts to deport 1 cardinal group from nan state each year.

The Department of Homeland Security claims Nkempu entered nan U.S. connected a visa successful June 2023 allowing her to enactment successful nan state legally until mid-2024. “Being successful detention is simply a choice,” an agency spokesperson said successful a statement.

Her detention besides follows a streak of arrests targeting world scholars astatine salient institutions crossed nan country.

Johns Hopkins is “deeply concerned” astir her arrest, according to a connection from assemblage spokesperson Doug Donovan.

“The assemblage understands nan fearfulness and interest this instills successful members of our community,” he wrote. “Dr. Ameaka was walking successful a individual capacity, and though we cannot remark connected nan specifics of her situation, we want to guarantee our organization that nan assemblage is actively moving to supply support for Dr. Ameaka, including ensuring she has entree to ineligible representation.

A surge of migration arrests astatine U.S. airports, some of which person been captured successful viral videos, look to person followed accrued coordination betwixt ICE and airdrome authorities who support and stock accusation and “tips” astir noncitizen travelers, moreover if they do not person criminal records.

TSA is providing ICE pinch nan names and commencement dates of travelers believed to person been ordered retired of nan state by an migration tribunal judge, allowing officers to quickly place and apprehension group successful airdrome terminals.

Newly disclosed agreements obtained by watchdog group American Oversight reveal that ICE and TSA person been moving together since astatine slightest May 2025, appearing to contradict legislature grounds from Acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill astir nan agencies’ work.

Rep. Dan Goldman asked McNeill if ICE shares accusation pinch TSA to find whether passengers person been ordered removed from nan country.

“That is not what is occurring,” she said. “We don’t nonstop nan accusation to ICE, we thief ICE cheque against information.”

The agency is moving “within our authorities to stock accusation wrong nan Department of Homeland Security to further nan nationalist information mission,” she said.

A memo obtained by American Oversight shows nan agencies had established much general data-sharing accusation and outlined procedures for ICE to clasp accusation obtained from TSA.

David Cummins, Trump’s nominee for TSA administrator, did not item nan position of nan statement erstwhile pressed during his Senate confirmation proceeding this week.

“This statement pulls backmost nan curtain connected nan general business betwixt TSA and ICE that nan management refused to explicate to nan public,” American Oversight Executive Director Chioma Chukwu said successful a connection this week.

“Americans supply their individual accusation to committee a level safely, not to go portion of an migration enforcement strategy aliases a authorities surveillance network,” Chukwu added.