A heated confrontation at San Francisco International Airport has drawn widespread attention after a United Airlines employee threatened to summon immigration authorities against a Mexican American customer over a booking mistake.
Julio Varela of San Ramon became frustrated last week when airline staff took three hours to correct an error his family made while entering his daughter's name on a ticket for a flight to Canada. After the extended wait and a tense back-and-forth with the representative, Varela began recording and demanded her name so he could file a complaint.
The employee responded by pulling out her own phone to record him. "Maybe we should call ICE on you," she said. "You don't act like a citizen."
Varela, a naturalized U.S. citizen, escalated the dispute further. The two continued their exchange with the customer repeatedly telling her to repeat the comment while she repeatedly told him to leave her alone. Varela then accused the airline of employing a racist and lazy worker as another United staffer looked on, visibly unimpressed.
United Airlines confirmed it is examining the incident captured in the video but declined to provide further details. "We're looking into the interaction in this video, but don't have anything additional to share at this time," a company spokesperson said.
Varela expressed worry that the ICE threat might result in his being detained when he returned to the United States from Montreal, though he cleared customs without incident upon arrival home.
Author James Rodriguez: "A three-hour wait over a name typo hardly justifies threatening ICE, but United's bland 'looking into it' response feels like the bare minimum when your own employee weaponized immigration enforcement against a customer."
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