Julio Varela says the incident on July 14 took place after a ticketing mishap at a San Francisco airport
Credit: Robert Alexander/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Julio Varela says a United Airlines employee threatened to call ICE during a dispute over his daughter’s ticket
- Varela, a U.S. citizen born in Mexico, called the employee’s alleged comments discriminatory and racist
- United Airlines and the employee’s union are looking into the incident, which appears to have been partially captured on video
A United Airlines passenger says he’s worried about returning home to California after an airline employee allegedly threatened to call immigration authorities on him after a ticketing mishap in San Francisco.
San Ramon, Calif., resident Julio Varela tells outlets KQED and NBC Bay Area the incident occurred on July 14 as he was traveling to Montreal with his wife and two daughters. He says the family arrived at the United check-in counter around 8:15 a.m. for an 11:40 a.m. flight. The family arrived early to address an issue with Varela’s daughter’s ticket, which reportedly had her middle name in the last name field.
After waiting for nearly three hours, Varela said an agent at a partner airline was close to resolving the issue, but United personnel needed to release the tickets in the system. That’s when the United employee allegedly dismissed the family.
“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.”
In footage of the interaction, shared on Reddit, a woman in a United Airlines uniform behind the counter says, “Maybe we should call ICE on you,” referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “Cause you don’t act like a citizen,” she adds. PEOPLE has not been able to independently verify the authenticity of the footage.
“That’s when I lost my s—,” Varela says. “I was like, ‘Are you serious? Call ICE on me right now.’ ”
Credit: NBC Bay Area/YouTube
From there, Varela says the interaction escalated. The employee reportedly walked out from behind the counter and shoved his hand away, as briefly seen in the footage. Throughout the confrontation, Varela says his 14-year-old daughter was crying.
Varela claims the United employee’s conduct was discriminatory.
“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,” he says. “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.”
He adds: “Every time I fly, I’m like, ‘Are they going to let me in?’… You could be an American citizen born here. It doesn’t matter.”
Credit: Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty
In a statement shared with PEOPLE, a United Airlines spokesperson said, “We’re looking into the interaction in this video, but don’t have anything additional to share at this time.”
In the video, the worker wore an ID badge identifying her as a union member of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM).
In a statement, a spokesperson for the organization tells PEOPLE, “We are aware of a video being circulated online, but we have no verification of its authenticity or the full context. As depicted, the comments made in the video do not reflect the views or values of the IAM Union. Any potential matters arising from this incident will be handled through the appropriate processes established by the collective bargaining agreement.”
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Varela reports his family was able to work with another United Airlines representative to complete the ticket release. He says his family made it to Montreal and was scheduled to return to San Francisco on Saturday, though it is not clear if they faced any further issues.
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