United Airlines employee threatens to call ICE on Bay Area family at SFO

A Bay Area family was flying home to San Francisco International Airport with lingering fears of detainment after a viral video showed a United Airlines employee threatening to call immigration authorities on them during a ticketing dispute.

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Julio Varela of San Ramon said neither the airport nor United Airlines has contacted his family of four to assure them they will not be detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) upon their return from Montreal Saturday night.

“I don’t even know what’s going to happen when I get back to San Francisco,” Varela said from the Montreal airport prior to his flight. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen when I get back.”

The incident occurred July 14 at the United Airlines counter at SFO as the family was trying to leave for a trip to Canada. Varela said a customer service representative refused to help fix an issue with his daughter’s ticket, which had incorrectly listed her last name as her middle name due to an error his wife accidentally made when booking the flight a few months ago.

Varela noted that a different United representative had advised them by phone to arrive at SFO early Tuesday so airport customer service could fix the error. After waiting nearly three hours, Varela said an employee from a United partner airline was close to resolving the issue, but a United worker stepped in and dismissed them.

“She walks over and says, ‘What, you’re still here? We already told you we can do this,’ and she just starts complaining about it,” Varela said. “She said, ‘I don’t care. That’s her problem. Take it up with her. I don’t care if you guys fly out today or not.’”

Frustrated by the interaction, Varela pulled out his phone and asked for the employee’s name to report her. He said the worker refused to identify herself, pulled out her own phone to start recording, and threatened to call ICE.

In the viral video, the employee can be heard saying, “Maybe we should call ICE on you.”

When Varela asked her to repeat the statement, she replied, “Maybe you need to be, because you don’t act like a citizen. Get away.”

Varela expressed disbelief over the encounter.

“It infuriated me, because I am a citizen, number one, and for her to threaten me like that with ICE, especially with the state of politics now in America and with what ICE is doing,” he said.

The confrontation also escalated physically, according to Varela. After a brief back-and-forth, the video shows the employee’s hand reaching toward the camera before Varela’s phone goes dark. Varela alleges the employee hit his hand and his phone, constituting an assault.

“When she pushed me, I squeezed it, so then I turned it back on again,” he said.

United Airlines issued a brief statement regarding the incident.

“We’re looking into the interaction in this video, but don’t have anything additional to share at this time,” the airline said.

The communications director for the employee’s union said the organization is aware of the video but has not yet verified its authenticity.

“As depicted, the comments made in the video do not reflect the views or values of the IAM Union,” the communications director stated. “Any potential matters arising from this incident will be handled through the appropriate processes established by the collective bargaining agreement.”

San Francisco International Airport officials have not responded to requests for comment.

Meanwhile, the Varelas’ flight was scheduled to land in San Francisco Saturday night. It was unclear if the family faced further issues at the airport.