United Employee Threatens to Call ICE on US Citizen Family at SFO: 'You Don't Act Like a Citizen'

A routine ticketing error at San Francisco International Airport spiralled into a viral confrontation that has reignited fears among immigrant and Latino families about flying in America. A United Airlines employee is accused of threatening to call US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on a naturalised citizen and his family after a dispute over a mis-typed name on a boarding pass.

The remark, captured on video and viewed thousands of times, has triggered an internal investigation by United and renewed scrutiny of ICE's presence at Bay Area airports. The family says neither the airline nor the airport has offered them any assurance since.

A Misspelt Name and a Three-Hour Ordeal at SFO

Julio Varela, a 54-year-old business owner from San Ramon, said the trouble began weeks before he ever reached the airport. His wife had accidentally entered their daughter's middle name in the last-name field while booking a United ticket for a flight operated by Air Canada, and the family spent roughly 15 hours on the phone trying to fix it before departure day.

On 14 July, Varela, his wife and two of their daughters arrived at SFO around 8:15am for an 11:40am flight to Montreal, where his wife was due at a work conference. The unresolved error had caused United to cancel the whole family's tickets, and staff spent nearly three hours shuttling them between United and Air Canada counters.

As an Air Canada employee neared a fix, Varela said a United worker interrupted and dismissed the family outright. 'I don't care. That's her problem. Take it up with her. I don't care if you guys fly out today or not,' he recalled her saying.

'Maybe We Should Call ICE On You'

Frustrated, Varela took out his phone and asked the employee for her name so he could file a complaint. He said she refused to identify herself, began filming him instead, and then made the remark that has since defined the story: 'Maybe we should call ICE on you.'

When Varela asked her to repeat it, she added: 'Maybe you need to be, because you don't act like a citizen.' Varela, who is Mexican American, said the comment left him stunned. 'My jaw dropped. Number one, I was shocked, and immediately I was angry,' he told a media outlet.

The confrontation escalated further, Varela said, when the employee's hand reached toward his phone as he continued recording, and the footage briefly goes dark. He alleges she struck his hand and the device. 'When she pushed me, I squeezed it, so then I turned it back on again,' he said. His 14-year-old daughter stood beside him crying throughout the exchange, he said. A different United employee ultimately resolved the ticketing problem, and the family made their flight.

United Opens a Review as Fear Lingers

United Airlines has not named the employee or detailed any disciplinary outcome. In a statement, the airline said only: 'We're looking into the interaction in this video, but don't have anything additional to share at this time.' Varela said a United representative later contacted him for his account and briefly corresponded by email, though he said the airline subsequently stopped responding.

Varela said he heard through a personal contact at the airline that the employee, reportedly a union steward, had been suspended pending the investigation, and a Reddit user claiming to work at SFO, whose identity could not be independently verified, made a similar claim online. United has not confirmed any suspension, and no outlet has independently verified the employee's current status.

The remark carried particular weight in the Bay Area given recent history at the same airport. In March, plainclothes ICE agents detained Contra Costa County mother Angelina Lopez-Jimenez and her nine-year-old daughter at SFO's Terminal 3, deporting both to Guatemala within 48 hours, an arrest that drew condemnation from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Though San Francisco is a sanctuary city, local policy cannot bar federal ICE agents from operating inside the airport.

Varela said that context shaped his family's return flight from Montreal on Saturday, as he had received no reassurance from United or SFO that they would not face problems re-entering the country. 'I don't even know what's going to happen when I get back to San Francisco,' he said from Montreal before boarding. 'Every time I fly, I'm like, are they going to let me in? You could be an American citizen born here. It doesn't matter.'