A United Airlines employee appears to have been caught on video threatening to call U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on a customer during a ticketing dispute last week at San Francisco International Airport.
East Bay resident Julio Varela, who was traveling with his family, told CBS News Bay Area that the incident began when an employee, who has not been identified, was rude and dismissive to him at the ticket counter. When the 54-year-old Varela asked for her name to report her, he said she refused, so he pulled out his phone to record her and the employee later did the same.
The video of the interaction caught on Varela’s phone, which has gone viral since being uploaded to Reddit and other social media platforms, shows the employee holding up her phone in front of her face as Varela tries to get her name.
“Maybe we should call ICE on you,” the employee is heard saying.
From behind the camera, Varela says, “You’re going to call ICE on me?” As he tells the employee to repeat herself, she can be heard adding, “Maybe you need to be, because you don’t act like a citizen. Get away.”
“I was so shocked, I was angry,” Varela said. “It’s intimidating, because my kids didn’t know, you know, if when we get back, are we, am I going to be arrested? Is ICE going to be there?” he added.
Varela, his wife and three daughters are all U.S. citizens. They had been at the airport for hours trying to fix a problem with one of his daughter’s tickets, which had been mistakenly issued with her middle name as her last name. But the ticket agent told them there was nothing she could do and that the family would miss their flight, he said.
“I say, well, my wife made the mistake, but we’ve been trying to correct it,” Varela told CBS News. “So that’s what we’re here for, so you can help us. She says, well, I don’t care if you fly or not. So that’s what got me upset. And that’s, I said, what’s your name? She said, I’m not going to give you my name.”
After the employee threatened to call ICE, Varela said he was not going to back down.
“She assumed that I was just gonna be some idiot that was gonna, you know, just be quiet and shut up,” Varela said. “So I said, ‘No, call ICE.'”
Varela added, “My 14-year-old daughter is crying on the side, and she’s screaming. My daughter’s, like, ‘Why would you say you were going to call ICE?’ That’s so rude and disrespectful, you know?”
Varela said the issue was eventually fixed minutes after the incident, and the family was able to board their flight.
United Airlines said Monday in an email to CBS News Bay Area that it was looking into the interaction, but had no other comment.