When you're connecting from an international flight to a domestic one, you'll always have to exit and reenter security as you'll need to go through customs and immigration (unless you have gone through preclearance aboard, which is rare).

In 2026, if you are arriving in the United States from an international location and connecting to another flight (whether domestic or international), you must go through U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at your first point of entry. Unlike many European or Asian hubs that allow "sterile" international-to-international transfers, the U.S. requires all passengers to clear immigration, collect their checked luggage from the carousel, and walk it through customs. After clearing, you will immediately find a "Baggage Re-check" counter where you hand your bags back to the airline. The only major exception to this rule is if you are flying from an airport with U.S. Preclearance facilities (such as Dublin, Shannon, Abu Dhabi, or several Canadian and Caribbean airports), where you clear U.S. customs before boarding your initial flight. In those specific cases, you arrive in the U.S. as a "domestic" passenger and can walk straight to your next gate. For everyone else, you must factor in at least 2 to 3 hours for this process to ensure you don't miss your connection.