United Airlines worker under investigation after ICE threat at SFO dispute

A United Airlines employee at San Francisco International Airport is under internal investigation after a July 14 video captured a threat to call ICE on Julio Varela, a naturalized U.S. citizen from San Ramon. The confrontation turned a routine ticketing dispute into a sharp question for Bay Area travelers: what protection exists when an airline worker invokes immigration enforcement against a U.S. citizen at SFO?

Varela was traveling with his wife and two daughters on an 11:40 a.m. flight to Montreal when the problem started over a ticket error involving his daughter’s name. The dispute unfolded at a United ticket counter and escalated into a lengthy back-and-forth before the employee said, “Maybe we should call ICE on you.” Another account of the exchange says the worker told Varela he did not “act like a citizen.”

United said it opened an internal investigation after the video spread widely online. The airline’s governance materials say it is committed to conducting business ethically, honestly and lawfully, and its ethics and compliance office says employees have access to a 24/7 helpline for reporting concerns. For customers, United directs people with a recent trip or future travel plans to its Customer Care form and Help Center.

The incident has kept pressure on United and airport officials because the family was still waiting for reassurance days later. As of July 19, neither United nor San Francisco International Airport had contacted Varela’s family to tell them they would not be detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement when they returned from Montreal.

That lack of follow-up has intensified scrutiny of customer-service conduct at one of the Bay Area’s busiest travel hubs. The video has circulated far beyond SFO, drawing attention because the threat was aimed at a U.S. citizen in a public airport setting, where passengers depend on airline staff to correct tickets, handle rebookings and resolve disputes without turning them into immigration confrontations.

For Varela, the central issue is now bigger than the ticket error that started the argument. The unanswered call from United and the airport has left the ICE threat, and the airline’s response to it, at the center of the dispute.