A Bay Area family flew home to San Francisco International Airport with lingering fears of being detained after a viral video showed a United Airlines employee threatening to call immigration authorities during a dispute over tickets.
Subscribe to read this story ad-free
Get unlimited access to articles and exclusive content, no ads.
Julio Varela of San Ramon said neither the airport nor United Airlines contacted his family of four to assure them they would not be detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) upon returning from Montreal Saturday night.
“I don’t even know what’s going to happen when I get back to San Francisco,” Varela said at the Montreal airport before taking off. “I don’t know what will happen when I get back.”
The incident occurred on July 14 at the United Airlines counter in SFO as the family tried to leave for Canada. Varela said a customer service representative refused to help resolve a problem with his daughter’s ticket, which incorrectly listed her last name as her middle name due to an error his wife accidentally made when booking a flight several months ago.
Varela noted that another United representative advised them by phone to arrive at SFO early Tuesday morning so that the airport’s customer service team could correct the error. After waiting nearly three hours, Varela said an employee at partner airline United was close to solving the problem, but a United employee intervened and fired them.
“She comes up and says, ‘What, are you 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. This is her problem. Discuss this with her. I don’t care whether you fly out today or not.”
Frustrated with the interaction, Varela pulled out his phone and asked for the employee’s name so he could report her. He said the worker refused to identify herself, pulled out her phone to start recording and threatened to call ICE.
In the viral video, the officer can be heard saying, “Maybe we should call ICE on you.”
When Varela asked her to repeat the statement, she replied: “Maybe you should because you are not behaving like a citizen. Leave.”
Varela expressed disbelief about the meeting.
“It infuriated me because I am the number one citizen and the fact that she threatened me like that with ICE, especially with the state of politics in America right now and what ICE is doing,” he said.
According to Varela, the confrontation also escalated physically. After a brief back and forth, the video shows the employee’s hand reaching toward the camera before Varela’s phone goes dark. Varela claims the employee hit his hand and phone, which constitutes assault.
“When she pushed me, I squeezed her and then turned it back on,” he said.
United Airlines released a brief statement regarding the incident.
“We are looking into the interaction in this video but have nothing to share at this time,” the airline said.
The union’s communications director said the organization is aware of the video but has not yet confirmed its authenticity.
“As can be seen, the comments made in the video do not reflect the views or values of the IAM Union,” the communications director said. “Any potential issues arising from this incident will be resolved through the appropriate procedures established by the collective bargaining agreement.”
San Francisco International Airport officials did not respond to requests for comment.
Meanwhile, Varelas’ plane was scheduled to land in San Francisco on Saturday evening. It is unclear whether the family encountered further problems at the airport.