Disguised ICE Agents Abandon Attempted Detention at Las Vegas Airport After Being Filmed
Two ICE agents who were disguised as regular airline passengers, one even sporting a fake moustache, attempted to detain a 57-year-old Vietnamese man at Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) and failed, leaving their target bewildered when they suddenly scurried off. The cause for their sudden change of heart? It appears they realized they were being filmed by concerned onlookers. The video of the incident, which occurred on July 13, has since gone viral on social media. The footage shows the plainclothes ICE agents not displaying any visible ID and concealing their faces with a mask and large hood. Esta no es una escena de la mafia rusa en los años 90, es EEUU, donde la Gestapo de Trump, se disfraza (literal hasta con bigote falso) de civil y secuestra a un hombre asiático en pleno aeropuerto. Cuando los mercenarios del ICE se dan cuenta de que le están grabado, huyen… pic.twitter.com/UmCr5K6Z5q — Daniel Mayakovski (@DaniMayakovski) July 17, 2026 Concerned onlookers went to intervene, not realizing that the two ‘passengers’ were, in fact, federal law enforcement officers. At that moment, a TSA officer stepped in to hold back passersby, although by that point, it was too late. With the man being held down prone on the floor, the two officers suddenly stopped attempting to detain him and walked away from the scene, leaving the ‘detainee’ bewildered by what had just happened. Police from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department were called, and officers found the man with one handcuff still attached to his wrist. They determined that the incident was an ICE detention gone wrong, but without any active warrants out for the man, he was let go. The man ended up catching his booked flight to Los Angeles, but upon landing, more ICE agents were waiting for his flight to arrive. In a post on X, the agency identified the man as Phu Nguyen, originally from Vietnam but with Australian citizenship. Nguyen arrived in the United States in 2015 but overstayed his visa. He is now in ICE detention. ICE Los Angeles arrested Phu Nguyen, 57, of Vietnam, at LAX, July 14. Nguyen overstayed his visa and, despite attempts by agitators to help him evade ICE officers at Las Vegas airport, was taken into custody as soon as he landed in Los Angeles. pic.twitter.com/UQ9lR0hEcK — ICE Los Angeles (@EROLosAngeles) July 15, 2026 In a statement, a spokesperson for the LVMPD said its officers had been called to the incident by concerned onlookers. A statement from the police department added: “During the investigation, our officers learned Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents had attempted to detain the individual but walked away from the arrest. ICE has gone on to say that its officers were ‘forced’ to abandon the detention attempt because of ‘anti-ICE agitators.’ There is, however, no evidence that the onlookers had any idea that the two agents were from ICE, given their lack of identification. "To de-escalate the situation and for officer safety, officers did not proceed with the arrest at the Las Vegas Airport and chose to instead arrest him at his flight the following day, departing the Los Angeles International Airport on July 14," a statement from the Department of Homeland Security explained.