A United Airlines employee was filmed threatening to call U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on a traveler who identified himself as a U.S.-Mexican citizen. The incident occurred on June 14 when the traveler, 54-year-old Julio Varela, was attempting to resolve an issue with his family's flight tickets.
In a video that later went viral, the unidentified employee is seen holding up her phone while Varela films her. "Maybe we should call ICE on you," the woman says in the recording. Varela, responding with shock, challenged her to repeat the statement and demanded she call ICE. The employee retorted, "You need to leave, because you don't act like a citizen. Get away!"
Varela, who told The San Francisco Chronicle that he believed the threat was serious, characterized the employee's actions as a "power trip" and expressed disbelief that a "person of color" would use such a threat against him.
The dispute began after Varela's family encountered an issue with a ticket purchased through United, which was to be operated by a partner airline. The problem arose when Varela mistakenly entered their daughter's middle name as her last name on the booking. Despite efforts to rectify the error, neither United nor Air Canada could resolve the issue, reportedly leading to the cancellation of the family's flights.
Varela stated that the family had spent a significant amount of time, estimated at 15-20 hours, on the phone attempting to correct the name on the ticket. Upon arriving at the airport, they discovered the flights had been purged from the system. The situation was eventually resolved when another United employee intervened, and the family was reissued flights to Montreal for a pharmaceutical conference his wife was attending.
United Airlines has stated that it is investigating the incident. It remains unclear whether the employee involved is still employed by the company. Police were not called to the scene during the exchange.