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A United Airlines employee threatened to call immigration authorities on a family at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) following a heated exchange over ticketing, according to NBC News and ABC 7.
During the reported exchange, in a video posted to Reddit, a United employee tells the man he’s "not acting like a citizen" and that maybe she should call U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on him and his family. United Airlines said it is "looking into the interaction."
Here’s what to know about the now-viral incident.
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Reports: Ticketing issue led to verbal exchange
Julio Varela and his family were due to depart San Francisco for Montreal, Canada, earlier this month, on a flight booked through United and operated by Air Canada, according to NBC News and ABC 7 News.
But before they could, the Varelas needed the airlines to fix a mistake on their daughter’s ticket, Varela told NBC News. While booking the flight online several months ago, Varela’s wife accidentally swapped her daughter’s middle and last names in the ticketing system.
Varela told Bay Area media outlet KQED that they spent roughly 15 hours over two weeks trying to resolve the issue. They also arrived at the airport early, and spent another three hours speaking with United and Air Canada.
Because the two airlines were involved, they had to make the necessary arrangements in their ticketing systems, which is when the confrontation was caught on tape.
'I'm not dealing with it, it ain't my problem'
Varela told several media outlets that Air Canada was able to fix his family's tickets, but that at this point, the United employee had completely given up trying to help them.
When both Varela and an Air Canada employee pressed the United employee to change the ticket, the employee told them there was nothing she could do and that she didn’t care if the family missed their flight, according to Varela.
"She said, 'I’m not dealing with it, it ain’t my problem,'" Varela told KQED. "That is when I was like, 'Man, you’re so lazy, so rude.' And she was like, 'Why are you calling me this?' I go, 'Yeah, what’s your name?' That’s when I pulled out my phone."
Varela began filming the employee, demanding her name so that he could report her. The employee refused and pulled out her own phone to film Varela.
The two continued arguing until the employee walked away from Varela and into an area for authorized personnel.
'Maybe we should call ICE on you'
In a follow-up video posted to Reddit, the employee comes back out to the ticketing counter and begins filming Varela again, before saying she might call ICE on the family.
"Maybe we should call ICE on you," the employee says. "'Cause you don’t act like a citizen. Get away."
Varela confirmed to KQED that he was born in Mexico but is a naturalized U.S. citizen. The family lives in San Ramon, California, roughly 35 miles east of San Francisco.
"I am Mexican. I was born in Mexico, I am a U.S. citizen. I own my own business. I pay taxes. I employ people," Varela told the outlet. "For her, especially with what’s going on right now in America … to say that to a minority, especially a Hispanic person, I think it’s really, really hateful and it’s really racist."
The family ultimately made their flight after another United employee intervened and resolved the issue, per KQED’s reporting.
United, airline workers union respond
In a statement provided to USA TODAY, United said it is "looking into the interaction in this video," adding it doesn’t have anything more to share at this time.
SFO did not respond to USA TODAY's request for comment.
IAM 141, the union that oversees airline workers, did not respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment. But the organization did confirm to USA TODAY that the employee "is being held out of service pending further investigation."
Meanwhile, in a statement shared with NBC News, IAM said it was aware of the video and was working to verify its authenticity.
"As depicted, the comments made in the video do not reflect the views or values of the IAM Union," the union went on to say. "Any potential matters arising from this incident will be handled through the appropriate processes established by the collective bargaining agreement."
Drew Pittock covers national trending news for USA TODAY. He can be reached at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: United probing incident after employee's ICE threat caught on video
