Late Sunday night, multiple videos showed how federal immigration agents detained a woman at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), placing her in handcuffs and forcing her into a wheelchair before escorting her and a young girl through a domestic terminal. The clips, shared on platforms like Reddit, quickly went viral, as residents and local leaders tried to make sense why the arrest had happened and what it signaled about ICE activity in San Francisco, a sanctuary jurisdiction.
In the videos, agents appear to be in plain clothes and do not identify themselves. Some videos also show San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) officers forming a barrier between agents and onlookers who were recording and expressing concern.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement posted on X that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers had arrested a Guatemalan woman and her daughter at the airport. The agency said both had a final removal order issued by an immigration judge in 2019. According to DHS, the mother resisted officials while trying to flee.
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According to a New York Times report, TSA has been sharing the names and birth dates of travelers it suspects may have removal orders with immigration officials, allowing agents to detain them at airports. In one high-profile case, a college student was detained at Boston Logan Airport and then later deported to Honduras despite an order from a Massachusetts judge.
A Times report on Tuesday indicated that in this situation, TSA had alerted ICE as well. The woman and her daughter, according to the report, had been planning to take a flight to Miami when ICE agents, dressed as civilians, first approached them. The report also indicates the woman is from Contra Costa County. Previously, she had been incorrectly identified as a Sacramento mother.
SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel told local media on Monday that the incident was a federal enforcement operation and that the airport was not notified in advance or involved. Yakel and other local officials initially said they believed federal agents were transporting the individuals for an outbound flight, though DHS later clarified the arrest had taken place at the airport.
Mayor Daniel Lurie also issued a statement Monday morning, describing the situation as an “isolated incident.”
“We have no reason to believe there is broader federal immigration enforcement at SFO,” Lurie said Monday. He added that SFPD officers were present to maintain public safety and reaffirmed San Francisco’s sanctuary city ordinance, which prohibits city employees from assisting ICE in immigration enforcement operations unless assistance is required by state or federal law.
In a statement, SFPD said officers responded to a 911 call around 10:00 p.m. on March 22 and determined the situation involved federal immigration officials. While they remained at the scene, SFPD officials said they were “not involved in the incident.”
Still, some advocates have raised concerns that SFPD’s role in creating a barrier between federal agents and onlookers could constitute a form of involvement.
“I have serious concerns about why SFPD officers seemingly surrounded ICE officers while they detained a woman last night and how their actions comply with our longstanding sanctuary ordinance,” District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder said in a statement on Instagram Monday afternoon.
The San Francisco Rapid Response Network (SFRRN) said it was not able to independently confirm all aspects of the incident.
The incident comes as the Trump administration announced plans to deploy federal immigration agents to major airports nationwide during the DHS shutdown. SFO, however, relies on private contractors for passenger screening and has not experienced the same level of staffing shortages seen in other parts of the country. DHS has also stated that the arrests occurred before ICE officers were sent to airports to support TSA.
This story was updated with additional information regarding the woman’s arrest.