Viral video of a woman being nabbed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at San Francisco International Airport sparked mass online fear-mongering about Trump’s deployment of immigration agents to help ease the TSA security crisis.
Video captured the moment ICE agents began handcuffing a crying woman on Sunday at around 10 p.m. inside the airport’s Terminal 3.
The officers were met with backlash from multiple passengers who filmed the scene and yelled at them, as the woman continued to cry with a young girl standing beside her, also sobbing.
“This is un-American,” one passenger is heard yelling.
“What is your badge number? What is your name?” one of the people filming asks as an agent holds the crying woman by the head.
ICE at SFO 3/22 10pm I’m not from the area- if anyone knows what organizations in the area I can send this to to help identify this woman please let me know. (I called SF rapid response network but no one answered and I left a message) SF Police shielded these unidentified men as they illegally detained a woman with a young child at SFO airport #ice #sanfrancisco #cbp #iceout #bayarea #icesanfrancisco #sfo
However, the Department of Homeland Security told Fox News that the woman was part of a family of illegal Guatemalan migrants who have had removal orders since 20019.
Agents arrested the family members as part of a targeted operation, but as they were being escorted away, the woman broke free and ran, according to DHS.
DHS accused the woman of resisting arrest as agents tried to cuff her again.
The airport also confirmed that the arrest was unrelated to Trump’s order to deploy ICE agents at busy air hubs around the country to try and ease the wait times at TSA lines.
“We understand federal officers were transporting two individuals on an outbound flight when this incident occurred. We believe this is an isolated incident and have no reason to suspect broader enforcement action at SFO,” spokesman Doug Yakel said. told The Post.
After the arrest, the agents appeared to have trouble moving the woman as the crowd of passengers yelled and booed at them, with the hecklers eventually calling the police.
The ICE agents were able to leave with the woman, with San Francisco police present during the detention.
The sanctuary city police neither assisted nor intervened in the arrest.
The woman and the child who were in the video have yet to be publicly identified.
The San Francisco airport was not among the list of locations where ICE would be deployed, and the transportation hub does not have TSA working at its security checkpoints.
It instead uses private contractors as its screeners, which has allowed it to bypass the bulk of the latest travel chaos caused by the partial government shutdown.
“The airport’s role is to ensure the safe and efficient operation of the facility for all passengers and staff. We were not involved in or notified in advance of this incident. Airport operations continued without disruption, and there was no impact to flights or passenger processing,” Yakel said.
ICE did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
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