ICE Detains Johns Hopkins Researcher as Airport Arrests Surge

ICE agents arrested Fatima Ameaka, a Cameroonian employee of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport as she prepared to board a domestic flight. DHS said she had overstayed a visa that expired in June 2024. The arrest came amid a surge in airport detentions tied to an expanded arrangement between ICE and the Transportation Security Administration; Johns Hopkins called her a “respected member” of its community, and she was released days later.