The Department of Homeland Security provided more clarity on the arrests made at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) on Sunday night, indicating that the incident was not tied to the Trump administration’s deployment of ICE officers to help manage airport security during the partial government shutdown.

“This arrest occurred BEFORE ICE officers were even deployed to bolster TSA efforts to help American travelers who are facing hours long lines across the country,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in an email after videos of the arrests began circulating online.

The footage showed plainclothes agents holding down a screaming and handcuffed woman as a young girl cried nearby. San Francisco Police Department officers were seen standing between the detainees and witnesses.

DHS claimed one of the arrested individuals tried to run away from agents.

“On March 22, 2026, ICE officers arrested Angelina Lopez-Jimenez and Wendy Godinez-Jimenez at the San Francisco International Airport. The family has an outstanding final order of removal from an immigration judge since 2019,” the spokesperson said. “While being escorted to the international terminal for processing, Lopez-Jimenez attempted to flee and resisted law enforcement officers. ICE is working as quickly as possible to repatriate the family unit to their home country of Guatemala.”

The circumstances leading up to the arrests were not immediately clear. State Sen. Scott Wiener (D) said at a press conference Monday it was his understanding that federal agents brought a woman and her child to the airport to put them “on a plane for deportation.”

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said the airport arrest was “upsetting,” but emphasized that he and his staff “believe this is an isolated incident.”

“We have no reason to believe there is broader federal immigration enforcement at SFO,” Lurie said in a statement, adding: “Under our city’s longstanding policies, local law enforcement does not participate in federal civil immigration enforcement.”

SFO is not one of the airports where the Trump administration has deployed ICE agents to assist TSA amid the shutdown, which has snarled security lines at airports while Congress spars over funding DHS. SFO is one of a handful of airports that use private contractors rather than TSA employees to staff security checkpoints.

While the incident at SFO appears disconnected from the ICE’s assistance with TSA, Trump on Monday described airports as “very fertile territory” for ICE officers to detain people.

“I will move our brilliant and patriotic ICE Agents to the Airports where they will do Security like no one has ever seen before, including the immediate arrest of all Illegal Immigrants who have come into our Country,” he wrote on TruthSocial over the weekend.

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