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United Airlines Employee Suggests Calling ICE on Passenger at San Francisco Airport
A United Airlines staff member at San Francisco International Airport told passenger Julio Varela last week that the airline might call ICE on him. The exchange followed a three-hour wait to fix a name error on a ticket to Canada. Varela, a naturalized U.S. citizen, recorded the interaction.
Jul 21, 12:53 PM·1m read3 sources
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MisconductEscalation
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A United Airlines employee at San Francisco International Airport told passenger Julio Varela last week that the airline might call ICE on him during an exchange at the ticket counter. The employee said, "Maybe we should call ICE on you. You don’t act like a citizen," according to a video recording of the incident.
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The interaction occurred after Varela’s family waited three hours for staff to correct an error entering his daughter’s name on a ticket for a flight to Canada. Varela, a naturalized U.S. citizen from San Ramon, California, asked the employee for her name so he could report her.
The employee began recording him in return. Varela repeatedly told the staffer to repeat the comment. " Varela shouted, "United Airlines has a racist customer service lady! " during the exchange. United Airlines stated it is looking into the interaction in the video but has nothing additional to share.
Varela expressed concern about possible ICE detention upon returning from Montreal despite his citizenship. He returned to the United States without being detained by ICE.
