SAN FRANCISCO – Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conducted an enforcement operation inside San Francisco International Airport Sunday night, arresting a woman in the secure area of Terminal 3, airport officials said.
What we know:
The arrest took place in Boarding Area E, which primarily serves United Airlines flights, according to SFO spokesman Doug Yaekel.Â
What we don’t know:
It was not immediately clear whether the woman was arriving or departing at the time of her detention. And it was not clear why she was arrested.Â
Airport officials told KTVU the enforcement action was unrelated to President Trump’s directive to deploy ICE agents to airports nationwide to assist Transportation Security Administration workers during the partial government shutdown.
Yaekel added SFO is not currently on the list for ICE support at security checkpoints, given that its screeners are private contractors and not TSA.
San Francisco police officers were present during the detention but neither assisted nor intervened in the immigration enforcement action, Yaekel aid.
ICE and the San Francisco Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Caught on video:
Videos of the arrest were captured by various TikTok users, who noted the arrest of the woman with her daughter about 10 p.m. People are heard shouting at the ICE agents.Â
“This is unAmerican,” someone is heard saying.
In another video, the woman is crying, and the videographer, who goes by the handle @argw6 on TikTok, is heard asking for the ICE agent’s badge number.Â
Screenshot from TikTok user @argw6 showing a woman getting arrested at SFO by ICE. March 22, 2026