Delta Airlines Pilot Arrested by ICE After Landing
Delta Airlines Pilot Arrested by ICE After Landing
A Delta Airlines pilot was detained by federal agents just moments after landing a plane at a California airport — shocking passengers and plane crew alike.
The pilot was arrested on board Delta Flight 2809 around 9:35 p.m. Saturday, just as the aircraft touched down in San Francisco from Minneapolis and was preparing to deplane, according to a local report.
Before anybody could leave, about 10 federal agents — including officers from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) — boarded the full plane, then “stormed the cockpit, cuffed the co-pilot, arrested him, walked him down the aisle, and ushered him off the plane,” one alarmed passenger who saw the whole ordeal said.
“A group of people with badges, guns, and different agency vests/markings were pushing their way up through the aisle to the cockpit,” passenger Sarah Christianson told the San Francisco Chronicle.
After the pilot was led away by the entourage of officers, another group came to cart his bags away.
And the flight crew had apparently no idea what was happening — with the other pilot telling passengers that he was as baffled as they were by the arrest, Christianson said.
Exactly why the pilot was arrested remains unclear.
HSI is a division of the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and has helped lead many of the immigration raids and arrests since President Trump began rolling out a mass crackdown on illegal immigrants.
Christianson called the incident “shocking and unnerving.”
“It was rage-inducing to see someone being disappeared right in front of me,” she said, borrowing language frequently used by critics to describe ICE arrests of illegal immigrants.
HSI has not clarified why the pilot was arrested or whether his immigrant status had anything to do with it, and did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.
Delta Air Lines deferred questions to law enforcement.
But it wouldn’t be the first time illegal immigrants have been snapped up at their workplace since Trump’s crackdown began.
In recent months, farms, factories and construction sites around the country have seen raids in the middle of the workday, with employees hauled off for deportation.
FBI Releases Photos of Person of Interest in Kirk Assassination
Sep 11, 2025
1 min
Ammo in Kirk Assassination Engraved with Pro-Trans Messages
Sep 11, 2025
1 min
Kirk's Casket to Go to Arizona on Air Force Two
Sep 11, 2025
1 min
Paramount Preparing Offer to Buy Warner Bros, Including CNN
Sep 11, 2025
1 min
UK Fires Ambassador to US Over Epstein Links
Sep 11, 2025
3 min
Bolsonaro Found Guilty of Coup Plot
Sep 11, 2025
1 min
Ex-Congressman Madison Cawthorn Arrested
Sep 11, 2025
<1 min
Manhunt Underway After Charlie Kirk Assassination
Sep 11, 2025
1 min
Videos Possibly Show Kirk Assassin on Rooftop
Sep 11, 2025
2 min
Who Is Erika Frantzve, Charlie Kirk's Wife?
Sep 11, 2025
3 min
MSNBC Fires Matthew Dowd Over Charlie Kirk Comments
Sep 11, 2025
2 min
Dems Are Blaming Kirk for His Own Assassination
Sep 11, 2025
2 min
CHARLIE KIRK SHOT IN UTAH
Sep 11, 2025
1 min
Trump Announces Crackdown on Drug Ads
Sep 11, 2025
2 min
Judge Blocks Trump from Firing Fed’s Cook
Sep 11, 2025
2 min
NASA Finds Clearest Ever Signs of Life on Mars
Sep 10, 2025
2 min
Decarlos Brown Jr's Brother Speaks Out
Sep 10, 2025
2 min
Ellison Tops Musk as World's Richest Man
Sep 10, 2025
2 min
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones Violating Its Airspace
Sep 10, 2025
2 min
Mother of Iryna Zarutska: 'She Loved America'
Sep 10, 2025
3 min