What to Know
Amid long lines at United States airports, President Donald Trump has deployed Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. And although Trump has acted like ICE agents are there to help the understaffed Transportation Security Administration (TSA), people have been skeptical from the get-go. A lot of people have questions about what ICE officers are actually doing at these airports. Those concerns only increased when a viral video appeared to confirm exactly what many people feared would happen.
Disturbing footage circulating on social media shows ICE agents restraining a woman at San Francisco International Airport as a young girl cried.
The video sparked outrage at the airport and online.
New footage shows ICE agents detaining a mother traveling with her young daughter at San Francisco International Airport. Witnesses repeatedly yelled “I don’t know who you are” as agents refused to show ID.
by u/expiredaristocracy in Fauxmoi
In videos shared on social media, the ICE agents restraining and arresting the woman are wearing ordinary clothes. Some witnesses asked the agents to show identification and they did not, according to accounts circulating online. One witness could be heard shouting, “I don’t know who you are! You could be someone kidnapping her!” Other witnesses shouted, “Shame on you!” and “Leave her alone!”
Knowing that ICE agents were recently deployed to airports to help TSA, one critic on Reddit questioned, “How’s that gonna speed up the lines?” Others didn’t believe that ICE was ever truly meant to “help.” Someone else responded, “Because people are going to be terrified of flying and not show up. Problem solved 🤔”
And another person wrote, “This is what ICE is there for. They are not there to help TSA, they are simply there for more chaos.”
Officials claim that this arrest happened before ICE agents were deployed to airports.
This arrest of ILLEGAL ALIENS occurred yesterday on March 22, 2026 — BEFORE ICE officers were deployed to airports to bolster TSA efforts.
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) March 23, 2026
ICE officers arrested Angelina Lopez-Jimenez and Wendy Godinez-Lopez at the San Francisco International Airport. These illegal aliens had a… https://t.co/Km8uoX9DJT
As the video continued to circulate online and horrify people, the Department of Homeland Security also shared it. In an X post, officials claimed that the arrest occurred on March 22, 2026, “BEFORE ICE officers were deployed to airports to bolster TSA efforts.”
The post stated that the woman and child “had a final removal order of removal from an immigration judge since 2019.” Officials also claimed that the woman “attempted to flee and resisted law enforcement officers” while she was “escorted to the international terminal for processing.”
Officials concluded, “ICE is working as quickly as possible to repatriate the family unit to their home country of Guatemala.”
But that post also made people angry.
Q: Whose idea was that to put ICE in the airports?
— Headquarters (@HQNewsNow) March 23, 2026
Trump: Mine. That was mine. That was like the paper clip. Do you know the story of the paper clip? 182 years ago, a man discovered the paper clip. It was so simple. ICE was my idea pic.twitter.com/TVcnqZzWUA
Critics who responded to DHS’ post about the arrest were skeptical of this story. Some thought back to how Trump once claimed he was focused on deporting “dangerous criminals” who are “the worst of the worst.” Looking at this mom and daughter, one critic questioned, “What crime or crimes did they commit that makes them among ‘the worst of the worst?'”
Others took issue with the way the X post was written, using dehumanizing language like “illegal aliens” written in all caps to refer to the woman and young child.
Congresswoman Doris Matsui spoke out against the arrest and said she’s seeking more information, KTVU reported. “This is our neighbor and a member of our community,” Matsui said.
Airport wait times continue to worsen.
🚨 Hours before ICE agents were officially deployed at airports, video shows federal agents handcuffing a woman in front of her daughter at San Francisco International Airport, with bystanders weighing in on what they witnessed…
— TMZ (@TMZ) March 23, 2026
✒️ @aidenjmarks pic.twitter.com/g3li8Ue5ce
According to CNN, ICE agents have been deployed to 14 airports as of March 24. The partial government shutdown is ongoing, which means TSA officers haven’t been paid in over a month. On Sunday, March 22, about 12% of TSA officers scheduled to work that day called off, CBS News reported. The news outlet also reported that some travelers at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston spent six hours waiting in line.
People are still wondering how ICE agents are going to help with this issue. Some travelers have noticed ICE agents at the airport but said it looks like they’re “not doing anything,” per the Washington Post.
READ MORE: Mother Begs for Answers From School Board About Protecting Kids From ICE Agents on Campus
