A video of ICE agents dressed in plain clothes dragging a mother at the San Francisco International Airport has gone viral. In the video, the woman can be seen resisting detention while ICE agents pull her.
Her daughter can also be heard crying in the video. The witness who recorded the incident went to comfort the daughter. Another eyewitness said the mother did not know whether the plainclothes agents were real.
Additional details emerged Monday about the woman who was apparently detained by ICE agents at San Francisco International Airport. https://t.co/iXAuth6ReN
— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) March 23, 2026
Witnesses asked the two men to identify themselves. The woman said, “Is this a kidnapping? Is this a federal agent?” The eyewitness expressed disappointment, saying these are other humans who are being treated as less than, and I think anyone should react this way.” The officers did not identify themselves and continued to escort the woman.
There were several comments under the viral video, condemning ICE agents’ actions. One critic commented, “Who wants to visit the US, knowing what can happen to you?” Another commenter pointed out why all these cowards are just standing around and watching a woman and child be attacked. Another commenter pointed out, “Why are all these cowards just standing around and watching a woman and child be attacked?” Some people appreciated ICE agents for doing their job.
One X user commented, “The only thing I see is a woman resisting arrest and a crowd impeding the work of agents doing their duty. Not every observing person is given the right to ask to see an ID. And when making an arrest with resistance, you contain the person first to preserve safety. Thank you for ICE.”
One user defended the agents and posted, “This woman was clearly resisting, which is suspicious behavior. ICE was right to detain her.” Many were also confused by the context of the video, suggesting there may be more to the story.
This arrest of ILLEGAL ALIENS occurred yesterday on March 22, 2026 — BEFORE ICE officers were deployed to airports to bolster TSA efforts.
ICE officers arrested Angelina Lopez-Jimenez and Wendy Godinez-Lopez at the San Francisco International Airport. These illegal aliens had a… https://t.co/Km8uoX9DJT
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) March 23, 2026
After the incident went viral, DHS commented, explaining the duo had had removal orders since 2019 and were staying illegally in the country. Despite the aggressive handling of the mother and daughter, officials defended the ICE agents’ actions.
The department identified the mother as Wendy Godinez-Lopez and the daughter as Angelina. The DHS statement reads, “ICE is working as quickly as possible to repatriate the family unit to their home country of Guatemala.”
State Sen. Scott Wiener also held a press conference condemning the incident, saying ICE is not welcome in San Francisco or at San Francisco International Airport, adding that they do not need ICE or Border Patrol or any of these other thugs in their city and airport, and that they are not welcome there and need to stay out.
This may have been an isolated event in San Francisco, but ICE agents have been accused of being aggressive with immigrants as well as U.S. citizens.
