United Airlines staff member threatened to call ICE on a family at SFO

Last week, a tense scene unfolded at the ticket counter of San Francisco International Airport. Julio Varela, a 54‑year‑old from the East Bay, was trying to correct a middle‑name mix‑up on his daughter’s boarding pass. What should have been a quick fix turned into a drawn‑out, hour‑long saga.

According to Varela, he and his wife, along with three of their daughters, spent several stressful hours trying to get the error fixed. When an unnamed United Airlines employee finally said she couldn’t help and that they would miss their flight, things escalated quickly.

“My wife made the mistake, but we’ve been trying to correct it,” Varela told CBS News. “She said, ‘I don’t care if you fly or not,’ and that’s when I got upset.” He then asked the employee for her name, and she flatly refused, prompting him to pull out his phone and start recording.

In the video that later went viral, the employee can be heard saying, “Maybe we should call ICE on you.” Varela, sounding both shocked and angry, replied, “You’re going to call ICE on me?” The exchange grew more heated, with the staff member retorting, “Maybe you need to, because you don’t act like a citizen. Get away,” and repeatedly demanding, “Get out of my face.”

Varela shouted back, calling the worker “racist,” “lazy,” and “rude,” and warned he would take legal action. The employee, unfazed, answered, “Okay, you sue.” The whole thing was captured on Varela’s phone while his 14‑year‑old daughter sobbed nearby, confused and frightened by the suggestion that ICE might show up at the gate.

All five family members are U.S. citizens, Varela emphasized, and he said the threat left them feeling “intimidated” and worried about being detained. “My kids were crying,” he recalled. “They kept asking why anyone would say they were going to call ICE.”

Eventually, after the confrontation, the ticketing glitch was fixed and the family boarded their scheduled flight. United Airlines said it was investigating the incident but stopped short of providing further details.

The incident reignited a broader conversation about how airline staff treat passengers, especially those from minority backgrounds, and whether threats involving immigration authorities are ever appropriate in customer‑service settings.