Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers targeted a mother and her child at San Francisco international airport for arrest after TSA agents tipped them off, according to a report from the New York Times.
The report, which cites federal documents, adds a new dimension to the arrest by ICE officers that went viral this week, casting new scrutiny on the Trump administration’s information-sharing agreements that critics say are leading to more indiscriminate immigration arrests.
ICE officers arrested Angelina Lopez Jimenez and her nine-year-old daughter Wendy Godinez Lopez after their immigration status and travel plans were flagged by TSA agents, according to the Times.
Homeland security declined to comment on the data-sharing arrangement between TSA and ICE.
The Guatemalan nationals, who reportedly resided in California’s Bay Area and were traveling to Miami, had been apprehended by US Border Patrol agents in 2018 in Arizona and released with a notice to appear in immigration court. An immigration judge ordered their removal the next year.
The arrest at SFO airport on Sunday was filmed by bystanders and circulated widely on social media. In those videos, Lopez Jimenez is seen crying as ICE officers make the arrest and bystanders demand them to show their badges.
Since Trump retook office, ICE officers have routinely masked their faces and declined to provide identification. DHS says that officers face unique threats of doxing, though interior immigration enforcement is historically one of the least dangerous jobs in law enforcement.
The incident drew condemnation from Democrats in Congress.
“I am deeply angered by the video released of a Sacramento mother being forcibly detained by ICE in front of her young daughter at San Francisco International Airport this weekend,” representative Doris Matsui of California wrote on X. “This is our neighbor and a member of our community. This video showcases the cruelty we have come to expect from Trump’s ICE agents, but also the lasting trauma that will be inflicted on those who are forced to witness their disproportionate and deadly recklessness. I am demanding answers as to why ICE treated this Sacramentan so violently in front of her daughter.”
Local officials also raised concerns that San Francisco police officers who helped maintain a barrier between onlookers and the ICE officers carrying out the arrest may have run afoul of California sanctuary policies.
Last year, the Trump administration began expanding data sharing between TSA and ICE. The move marked a major shift in immigration enforcement, which had not previously targeted domestic flights.
Stalled negotiations in Congress have also led to widespread TSA worker absenteeism, as workers enter their sixth week without pay. Hundreds of TSA workers have quit since February, when the DHS shutdown began. The Trump administration started using ICE officers to help plug the gap for TSA workers who call out, though immigration agents are not trained for airport security.
ICE officers have continued to receive pay during the DHS shutdown through money allocated by the “big, beautiful” spending bill last year.
