Unions Says Trump Admin Illegally Revoked Airport Workers’ Security Clearances

A major labor union filed a lawsuit Friday accusing the Trump administration of illegally revoking the security clearances of dozens of immigrant airport workers who are authorized to work in the U.S., effectively costing them their jobs.

The Service Employees International Union said at least 80 workers at Boston’s Logan International Airport have lost what’s known as a customs seal, which they need to access certain areas of the airport. Other workers in New York, Orlando, San Francisco and Houston airports have also had their seals revoked, according to the suit.

“These actions constitute a nationwide assault on immigrant airport workers,” the union alleged in its complaint.

A CBP spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

SEIU represents around 40,000 airport workers across the country who clean terminals and airplane cabins, escort elderly travelers and work in restaurants and shops. The union says many of those workers can’t do their jobs without displaying a customs seal badge.

The seal application process was “straightforward” until shortly after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, according to the complaint. Then workers who didn’t previously have issues with their background checks were getting denied on their renewals.

“Once CBP grants a seal, the agency will generally renew it absent a material change in the seal holder’s circumstances. Employers, airport authorities, airlines, and workers have relied on this system for decades,” the union alleged. “Since February 2025, however, Defendants have abruptly and haphazardly upended this established system.”

The suit names four plaintiffs who recently lost their seals, including one worker, 65-year-old Raquel Molina, who was employed at Logan for 27 years after immigrating from El Salvador.

Another plaintiff, 58-year-old Saint Paul Paul, said he worked at Logan for three years as a cabin cleaner until his seal was revoked last summer.

“The letter I got from Customs and Border Protection on June 30 said that I was an ‘unacceptable risk,’ even though I have the authority to work, even though I am a good worker,” Paul, who is from Haiti, said in a statement through the union. “I think this language is an excuse so the government can discriminate against immigrants like me.”

CBP is the agency within the Department of Homeland Security responsible for enforcing customs laws and safeguarding ports of entry, including at international airports. Though it is a separate agency from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, CBP officers have been enlisted in ICE operations as part of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown.

SEIU claims CBP has been revoking customs seals “en masse” for foreign-born green card holders, asylum-seekers and workers with temporary protected status, which protects people from certain countries from deportation.

Since losing their jobs, the four named plaintiffs have all struggled to find similarly paying work, according to the complaint. Paul ended up taking a job at Chipotle.