Story perspectives

United Employee Threatens ICE, Fuels Civil-Rights Claim

7/22/2026

Summary

Story summary

United Airlines employee threatened to call ICE on passenger Julio Varela at San Francisco International Airport on July 14.
Varela, a 54-year-old, was fixing an error for his daughter’s flight to Montreal when the employee refused to give name.
Varela filmed the exchange, posted the video and it went viral on Reddit and other sites.
United Airlines and attorney Ronald Cabanayan said incident could support civil-rights lawsuit while United Airlines is investigating.

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Story summary

United Airlines employee threatened to call ICE on passenger Julio Varela at San Francisco International Airport on July 14.
Varela, a 54-year-old, was fixing an error for his daughter’s flight to Montreal when the employee refused to give name.
Varela filmed the exchange, posted the video and it went viral on Reddit and other sites.
United Airlines and attorney Ronald Cabanayan said incident could support civil-rights lawsuit while United Airlines is investigating.