United Airlines worker threatened to call ICE on Bay Area family at SFO, video shows
ICE enforcement has drawn across the country over the past year
Published July 20, 2026
A ticketing mix-up at San Francisco International Airport turned into something much bigger last week, after a United Airlines employee was caught on video threatening to call immigration authorities on a passenger.
Julio Varela, a business owner from San Ramon, was heading to Montreal with his wife and two of their daughters for a work conference when the trouble started. The confusion started when his wife accidentally typed the middle name of her daughter into the last name section.
Varela said they tried to solve the issue and spent over 15 hours on calls over the last weeks; however, the issue wasn’t resolved.
According to Varela, the family had to walk three hours from United Airlines counters to Air Canada counters back and forth and just when an Air Canada employee nearly resolved the issue, the United worker stepped in and shut the conversation down, telling him she didn't care whether they made their flight or not.
Frustrated, Varela called her rude and lazy, and asked for her name so he could file a complaint. He said she wouldn't give it, and instead pulled out her own phone to start filming him.
That's when, according to the video, she can be heard saying, "Maybe we should call ICE on you." When Varela asked her to repeat herself, she added that he didn't "act like a citizen."
Varela is Mexican American, and he said that comment is what really stuck with him, especially given how much attention ICE enforcement has drawn across the country over the past year, including a separate case in which a mother was detained by ICE at the same airport.
The ticketing issue eventually got resolved by a different United employee and the family made their flight to Montreal.
