{"id":234517,"date":"2026-03-24T19:10:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T19:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/234517\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T19:10:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T19:10:16","slug":"democrats-rip-detention-of-distraught-woman-at-san-francisco-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/234517\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats rip detention of distraught woman at San Francisco airport"},"content":{"rendered":"

Democratic lawmakers on Monday slammed the detainment of two individuals by federal immigration officers at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), an incident that occurred before officers were deployed to multiple airports<\/a> to assist with security.<\/p>\n

Video of the incident shared on social media show officers holding a woman down against the floor. The law enforcement officials refused to show their badges, while the woman, who was put in handcuffs, was wailing throughout the arrest.<\/p>\n

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wrote Monday<\/a> on social platform X that the arrest occurred on Sunday, a day before Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrived at airports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) wrote in a statement<\/a> that its officers were not involved in the arrest but responded to the airport at roughly 10 p.m. PDT and \u201cremained at the scene to maintain public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

DHS said that ICE officers arrested Angelina Lopez-Jimenez and Wendy-Godinez Lopez, undocumented migrants who received a final order of removal from an immigration judge in 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile being escorted to the international terminal for processing, Lopez-Jimenez attempted to flee and resisted law enforcement officers,\u201d the department added. \u201cICE is working as quickly as possible to repatriate the family unit to their home country of Guatemala.\u201d<\/p>\n

Security wait times at airports nationwide have increased<\/a> amid the DHS shutdown, as more than 400 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers have quit<\/a> and call-out rates have risen significantly since the funding lapse began on Feb. 14. That led President Trump to deploy ICE officers<\/a> to airports around the country, an operation overseen by White House border czar Tom Homan.<\/p>\n

SFO is the largest airport in the U.S. that outsources security screening to private contractors in lieu of TSA employees, according to its website<\/a>. All security procedures are managed and supervised by TSA staff, while the screeners are employed by a private company called Covenant Aviation Security.<\/p>\n

Local and congressional Democrats expressed concern at the arrest. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie (D) wrote Monday on X<\/a> that the incident was \u201cupsetting,\u201d but noted that based on conversations with leaders at SFO and SFPD, they \u201cbelieve this is an isolated incident.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have no reason to believe there is broader federal immigration enforcement at SFO. \u2026 Under our city\u2019s longstanding policies, local law enforcement does not participate in federal civil immigration enforcement,\u201d he added. \u201cThose policies keep us safe and will not change as long as I\u2019m mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), who represents Sacramento, said Monday that the woman detained was a mother from that city who was arrested in front of her \u201cyoung daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis video showcases the cruelty we have come to expect from Trump\u2019s ICE agents, but also the lasting trauma that will be inflicted on those who are forced to witness their disproportionate and deadly recklessness,\u201d she wrote online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am demanding answers as to why ICE treated this Sacramentan so violently in front of her daughter,\u201d Matsui added.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Homan said that ICE officers will conduct enforcement activities<\/a>, in addition to helping TSA officers. The longtime immigration official has said in multiple interviews since Sunday that ICE officers will not directly assist TSA<\/a> with security screenings, but instead will relieve officers<\/a> from other areas, such as entry and exit lanes to security checkpoints.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to arrest criminals going through the airport. We\u2019re going to look for human trafficking, sex trafficking, money smuggling. We\u2019re going to be at the airports, working with our brothers and sisters from TSA,\u201d he said on Fox News\u2019s \u201cHannity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The border czar also noted Monday on SiriusXM\u2019s \u201cCuomo Mornings<\/a>\u201d that Homeland Security Investigations and Customs and Border Protection already have a presence at airports.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Trump said Monday that airports are \u201cvery fertile territory<\/a>\u201d for ICE officers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey love it because they\u2019re able to now arrest illegals as they come into the country,\u201d the president told reporters, referring to ICE officers.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that\u2019s not why they\u2019re there,\u201d he added later. \u201cThey\u2019re really there to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Democratic lawmakers on Monday slammed the detainment of two individuals by federal immigration officers at San Francisco International…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[3536,11290,35512,2778,3020,101,103,6499,102,104,106,105,4910,4736,8619,5173,106178],"class_list":["post-234517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-department-of-homeland-security","tag-doris-matsui","tag-federal-immigration-officers","tag-immigration-and-customs-enforcement","tag-president-trump","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-mayor","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-sfo","tag-sfpd","tag-transportation-security-administration","tag-tsa","tag-wendy-godinez-lopez"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}