ICE agents violently arrest mother and daughter at San Francisco International Airport
On the night of March 22, 2026, plainclothes ICE agents forcibly arrested a woman, later identified by DHS as Angelina Lopez-Jimenez, and her roughly 10-year-old daughter inside San Francisco International Airport, holding the crying woman on the floor and wheeling her away in restraints while refusing bystanders' requests to identify themselves or show badges. About a dozen San Francisco police officers formed a barrier around the agents but did not intervene. DHS said the family was subject to a 2019 final order of removal and was being repatriated to Guatemala; the arrest coincided with a new federal deployment of ICE agents to U.S. airports.
Actors
- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Why we recorded this
A basic promise of due process is that when the government uses force against a person it does so openly and accountably: officers identify themselves, and force stays limited to what an arrest actually requires. Here, plainclothes federal immigration agents pinned a woman to the airport floor and wheeled her away in restraints as her young daughter watched, while refusing to give their names or show badges when bystanders asked. Documenting incidents like this shows how immigration enforcement can slide into anonymous, disproportionate violence against civilians in a public space, eroding the norms of identification and proportionality that separate lawful policing from intimidation.
Sources
- Woman and daughter identified after ICE arrest at SFO — The San Francisco Standard primary accessed June 9, 2026
- ICE arrest at SFO sparks concerns over potential breach of California sanctuary law — Mission Local primary accessed June 9, 2026
- Viral video shows mother arrested by ICE at San Francisco International Airport — ABC7 San Francisco secondary accessed June 9, 2026
- Video shows ICE arrest woman, daughter at San Francisco airport — KTVU FOX 2 secondary accessed June 9, 2026
See also
- Hennepin County charges ICE agent in January Minneapolis shooting of Venezuelan immigrant
- U.S. Sen. Andy Kim pepper-sprayed by federal agents during ICE oversight visit in Newark
- Federal officers spray chemical irritants and charge demonstrators at Newark's Delaney Hall ICE jail
- NJ State Police take over Delaney Hall protests, deploy tear gas and pepper spray; six arrested
- ICE agents shoot Carlos Mendoza Hernandez six times during traffic stop in Patterson, California