The Department of Homeland Security has clarified who was arrested at the San Francisco airport and why after a video of a woman crying while being arrested by two ICE officers went viral.
After Donald Trump ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement deployed to airports to help move long lines, with hundreds of TSA employees quitting over unpaid wages, panic spread that these immigration agents were now violently arresting people at airports.
A video has gone viral of a woman traveling with her child at the San Francisco airport, crying as she was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The agents were not wearing any masks, and when other travelers asked the agents to show their badges, they did not comply and continued to force the woman. “I don’t know who you are,” someone says in the background of the video, asking agents to provide proof that they are from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “It could be someone kidnapping her,” the woman said.
But the agents did not react.
He watches
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Some social media users claimed the woman was a US citizen traveling with her young daughter but was unable to prove her citizenship to the satisfaction of agents and was violently detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But the incident occurred Sunday before ICE agents were deployed to manage the TSA crisis on Monday. Airport authorities also said it was not related to the new ICE deployment, but rather was an immigration arrest.
Airport spokesman Doug Yakel said the violent arrest had nothing to do with Trump’s directives.“We know that federal officers were transporting two people on an overseas flight when this incident occurred,” he wrote in an email to The New Republic. “We believe this is an isolated incident and have no reason to suspect wider enforcement action at the SFO… We were not involved in this incident or informed of it in advance.
Airport operations continued without interruption, and there was no impact on flights or passenger processing.
““I flew into San Francisco at 10pm last night and we were stuck on the runway for 30 minutes due to a ‘security’ issue. I can’t imagine it was anything other than this,” Utah Senator Nate Blouin wrote on X. Trump is making things worse for travelers by targeting our neighbors. Gas prices rose, global safety declined. “It has become worse for travellers.”
stupid.
The Department of Homeland Security says the illegal aliens have a removal order
DHS also confirmed that the incident occurred before ICE was deployed due to the TSA crisis and no US citizens were arrested. “The illegal aliens were arrested yesterday on March 22, 2026 – before ICE officers were deployed to airports to augment TSA efforts. ICE officers arrested Angelina Lopez-Jiménez and Wendy Godinez-Lopez at San Francisco International Airport. These illegal aliens have received a final removal order from an immigration judge since 2019.
While being escorted to the international terminal for processing, Lopez-Jimenez attempted to flee and resisted law enforcement officers. “Immigration and Customs Enforcement is working as quickly as possible to return the family unit to their home country of Guatemala,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.