Plainclothes Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents attempted to arrest a man at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, but left him partially handcuffed after being confronted by onlookers. The incident occurred on Monday, and a video of the encounter has been obtained by CNN.

Details of the Incident

The video shows a man in a light blue polo shirt being held to the ground by the ICE agents, with his shoe having fallen off and his luggage pushed to the side. The agents, a woman and a man, appear to handcuff him before walking away and leaving him partially handcuffed.

Onlookers stopped and questioned the ICE agents, with a uniformed Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer standing in front of the agents and the man, creating a makeshift perimeter. The TSA officer can be heard saying, ‘Back up, it’s law enforcement. Everyone back up.’

The ICE agents walked away, leaving the man and saying nothing to the TSA officer or the onlookers. The man, identified as Phu Nguyen, a 57-year-old citizen of Australia who was born in Vietnam, was taken into custody the following day at Los Angeles International Airport.

Response from Authorities

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated that federal agents stopped the arrest to ‘de-escalate the situation and for officer safety’ after a ‘crowd of anti-ICE agitators surrounded officers.’ The Las Vegas police said that ICE agents attempted to detain Nguyen but walked away from the arrest, and police officers removed the handcuffs from his wrist and notified ICE after a records check found no outstanding warrants on him.

Sen. Jacky Rosen, a Democrat representing Nevada, criticized the ICE agents’ actions, saying, ‘Plain clothes. No uniforms. No body cameras. No identification.’ Rosen demanded answers about the incident, stating that ICE is ‘continuing to act with impunity — instilling fear in our communities and scaring tourists, which hurts our tourism economy.’

Original reporting: KTVZ (Central Oregon) — read the source article.