Multiple videos posted on social media show two federal immigration officers not in uniform, forcibly handcuffing a woman at San Francisco International Airport Sunday night while her daughter, who appears to be around 10, stands by, crying.
An SFO airport official says they “understand federal officers were transporting two individuals on an outbound flight when this incident occurred.”
The video catches the voices of onlookers asking, “where is your badge?” and, “can I see your badge number sir, what is your name?” as well as the cries of the woman being detained. In the background, another bystander says “this is illegal,” and another person says, “don’t choke her.”
About a dozen San Francisco Police Department officers are seen standing in a line to form a barrier as the federal immigration agents roll the woman away in an airport wheelchair. The video was posted online late Sunday night.
The video, shared to Instagram by Andrey Ivanov, captures the moment when the woman clings to an airport bench while two agents attempt to forcefully remove her. The first agent pries her fingers off the bench while a second agent helps to push the mother into a chair.
A woman can be heard yelling, “What are you doing? Leave her alone!”
In another video, posted to Reddit by the user Din Jarring, about a dozen SFPD officers form a defensive line around one of the presumed ICE agents as they wheel the woman out of the airport terminal.
Her child walks beside them, holding the hand of the other agent, who says in Spanish, “Vente,” meaning ‘come on.’
One onlooker yells, “This is the face of America, congratulations!”
Another man says, “Are you fucking serious?”
A spokesperson for the San Francisco International Airport confirmed the incident was indeed a federal immigration enforcement issue but that they were not able to verify “who they were, what they were doing or why.”
The spokesperson said SFPD was present, but did not assist nor prevent the enforcement. They also said they believe this was an isolated incident and they have no reason to suspect broader enforcement at SFO.
Officer Robert Rueca from the San Francisco Police Department said that officers responded to a 911 call at approximately 10 p.m. last night. Rueca wrote, “Officers were not involved in the incident, but remained at the scene to maintain public safety.”
Jason Sweeney, a public affairs official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement said by email that ICE will be releasing a statement on the video later in the day on Monday.
San Francisco mayor Daniel Lurie wrote on X that he “found the incident upsetting,” and says that officers “remained at the scene to maintain public safety and were not involved in the incident.”
But in the video, SFPD officers are clearly lined up to act as a barrier so that the unidentified federal immigration officers can conduct their enforcement operation.
Meanwhile, Senator Scott Wiener said in a statement, “ICE’s tactics are violent and unacceptable, and they need to stay the hell away from San Francisco and SFO.”
Wiener will be addressing ICE’s conduct today at 11:45 a.m. outside of SFO’s International Terminal.
The state of California has sanctuary policies that preclude local law enforcement from assisting in detaining or arresting persons for immigration purposes.
Although there are certain exceptions to the law, Jordan Wells, a senior staff attorney at the Lawyers Committee For Civil Rights, said that this type of activity does not appear to be one of those exceptions. Some of these exceptions include sharing certain criminal record information, and state prison system cooperation.
The City of San Francisco also has its own sanctuary ordinance that prohibits all city employees, including police, from assisting ICE. The police department’s policies specifically prohibit officers supporting “routine ICE/CBP operations, investigations, or raids.”
Local law enforcement, per the state law, are not permitted to “[u]se agency or department moneys or personnel to investigate, interrogate, detain, detect or arrest persons for immigration enforcement purposes,” which would include aiding in another law enforcement agency taking one of those actions, said Wells.
Milli Atkinson, director of the Immigrant Legal Defense Program at the San Francisco Bar Association, said that the Rapid Response Hotline received multiple calls from people who said that they had witnessed ICE at SFO. Atkinson was unable to provide any further information.
A representative at United States Customs and Border Enforcement at SFO told Mission Local over the phone to contact SFPD, and that a commanding officer would call back to provide more comment. No call was ever received.
The incident at SFO on Sunday coincided with the deployment of ICE officers to airports across the country during the ongoing standoff over Department of Homeland Security funding.
This story is developing and will be updated.
“The spokesperson said SFPD was present but did not assist nor prevent the enforcement.”
I am no expert on sanctuary policies but I would have thought that that is exactly what local LEOs are supposed to do in a situation where Federal officers are detaining someone. They do not help and they do not hinder. They are there more generally to keep the peace.
Would it not be the same if the Federal officers had been FBI, ATF, DEI or Marshalls doing a bust?
And if there is any location in the city where you might expect immigration, border and customs officers to act, it is the international airport where, I imagine, detentions and deportations are a daily routine.
So if detentions and deportations were a daily occurrence at SFO pre-Trump as your comment implies then it only proves that grabbing people bodily without displaying badges, uniforms, etc. is unnecessary to carry out legitimate immigration enforcement.
So why do they do it this way? To me it’s obvious that Trump wants to terrorize all of us (or, more likely imo, the policy is set by some other person or organization that is really calling the shots while Trump is watching television, playing golf, and soiling himself).
The witnesses and the videos contradict what you said. It was quite obvious that SFPD was protecting the ice thugs in the disappearing of a mother and her daughter instead of arresting them for kidnapping. The problem is more than a few of SFPD officees are very much in favor of what ICE is doing. If we start firing them for this blatant aiding and abetting – protecting the ice agents is aiding and abetting since ice would not be able to do their jobs without the protection of local law enforcement.
They’ll change their tune really quick.
Michael, are you seriously suggesting that SFPD should try and arrest armed federal officers? That runs a high risk of starting a gun battle between two sets of officers in a crowded location. That is insane.
My understanding is that SFPD are there to keep protesters away from the Feds, thereby avoiding risks like the two tragic killings we saw in MSP, where the local cops were nowhere to be seen when they should have been keeping the officers and the protesters apart.
There is no state or local law forbidding SFPD from assisting ATF, FBI, or DEA. So yes, this is a very different situation. It’s fine if you think the laws in place should be changed! Or if you want to argue that SFPD wasn’t actually helping ICE do its job faster. But either way, it seems pretty clear that ICE has an entirely different legal standing with SFPD than those other law enforcement groups.
I don’t understand why SFPD showed up anyway. The airport is not part of SF proper. Is this not why the airport has its own security personnel?
The official line, repeated by SFO, Lurie, and Wiener, appears to be that the woman and child were being escorted for deportation. But all of the eyewitness statements from the videos describe the scene as two un-IDed men approaching them and taking them away from the gates for questioning. Doesn’t seem like it can be both.
SFPD really has an opportunity here. They can choose to ***PROTECT** the people who live here (and pay their salaries) or they can assist masked militia members with no accountability and no rules as they tear down everything good amount America.
I regularly defend SFPD to some people I know who are all “ACAB!” (including some relatives) and think all cops want nothing but to be just as abusive as the ICE agents. I constantly try to defend SFPD, saying they’re not like other places.
but…. maybe I’m wrong. I’ve become more and more disappointed. I don’t want to be “that guy”, but I pay a TON of taxes in this city and to see my own police force protect people who are OBVIOUSLY the bad guys is just infuriating. And to see our mayor tell us that this never happened, and watch people just nod their heads like little magas listening to trump is also infuriating.
Every one of those SFPD officers involved in this open protection of the ice thugs should be fired immediately! No excuses! And if the chief of police raises a stink, fire him too! SFPD needs be reminded that they work for us and we will not tolerate them helping trump’s thugs in any way shape or form.
This issue is getting a significant amount of coverage, yet most news sites and venues omit the facts.
The woman is illegally in the United States, I repeat, she is illegally here. She is a Guatemalan citizen illegally residing in USA. She has a deportation order from 2019 that explicitly orders/mandates/tells/dictates/forces her to leave the country. She clearly has not done that.
She wasn’t arrested at the airport. Anyone saying that this was an arrest is lying or trying to spread a false narrative. She was being removed from the country and/or transferred to another facility to process her removal by ICE agents.
She decided to make a scene, and people are obviously falling for it.
Let me repeat and summarize. This is a foreign citizen, ordered to leave the country over 6 years ago. She was not arrested at SFO, she was being removed and/or transferred prior to removal proceedings. Her daughter, whether a US citizen or not, likely is being removed with the mom because she cannot stay here with a foster parent, or in the system.
That’s all there is to it. Wake up! There is no injustice here, remove the humanitarian aspect of it. If you feel inclined, sponsor her and her family to come back legally. If not, please stop spreading false narratives
Is she a US citizen? Does she have a green card or visa? No? Then why is there any confusion? Deport her. It’s a freaking AIRPORT, immigration and customs enforcement belong there. Thank you ICE officers for doing your job and keeping us safe.
It’s unfortunate that SFO uses private contractors for screening instead of TSA. I will have to settle for ICE being deployed to almost every airport because of Democrats.
It is not “unfortunate” that SFO uses Covenant Security, a TSA approved contracto, to do airport security. It’s forward thinking and has been in place for decades. That’s one reason lines are shorter and predicable at SFO. And the workers will receive their rightful pay. ICE has no place or experience providing security, especially at airports.
the democrats and offered the republicans FIVE SEPARATE BILLS. FIVE BILLS THAT WOULD COVER ALL TSA. THE ONLY DIFFERENCES IS THAT THEY WANTED ICE TO BE SEPARATE
Don’t spew your pathetic republican propaganda here. We know better. We can see through your lies with FACTS.
The Democrats have put forward a bill specifically to fund the TSA arm of DHS. The Republicans shot it down.