By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-07-24 21:30:46 | Updated at 2026-07-28 14:21:42
3 days ago
A Ukrainian woman screamed for help as plainclothes federal officers wrestled her to the floor during a dramatic immigration arrest at San Francisco International Airport, a viral video of the incident shows.
Iryna Gorb, 38, was detained on Wednesday after arriving back in California from a trip to Portland, Oregon.
Footage recorded inside Harvey Milk Terminal 1 showed several men surrounding Gorb on the ground as she accused them of choking her.
‘You’re choking me. They’re f****** ICE,’ she screamed.
‘Stop, stop. Let me go. Please help me. Leave me alone.’
Alarmed passengers gathered around the group and demanded an explanation from the men, who were dressed in civilian clothing.
‘What are you arresting her for?’ one witness asked.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) later confirmed that federal officers had detained Gorb over an alleged visa violation.
Iryna Gorb, 38, screamed for help as plainclothes federal officers restrained her at San Francisco International Airport on Wednesday
Gorb accused the officers of choking her as they held her on the floor inside Harvey Milk Terminal 1
DHS said in a statement to Mission Local that Gorb legally entered the US in 2010 with permission to remain until 2011 but did not leave when her visa expired.
The agency also alleged that Gorb attempted to flee and resisted when officers approached her.
The statement did not address Gorb’s allegation that she was being choked or explain the officers’ use of force.
The Daily Mail has contacted DHS for further comment about the officers’ conduct during the arrest.
Gorb has spent 16 years in the US and lived in San Francisco for about a decade, according to friends.
She worked at Better Half Cafe in the city’s Polk Gulch neighborhood and was also a photographer.
Richmond City Council member Doria Robinson witnessed the arrest while waiting for a flight to Seattle and began recording after Gorb’s screams drew her attention across the concourse.
Robinson told the San Francisco Chronicle that she initially feared she was witnessing domestic violence because the men were dressed in civilian clothes and did not identify themselves.
Richmond City Council member Doria Robinson filmed the arrest after Gorb’s screams drew her attention across the airport concourse
Gorb legally entered the US in 2010, but DHS said her permission to remain in the country expired in 2011
As travelers gathered, members of the crowd began shouting that the men were Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
Video showed Gorb being restrained on the floor before she was handcuffed to an airport wheelchair and taken away.
Robinson said one officer remained ‘on top of’ Gorb during the arrest.
‘It just felt crazy,’ she told the Chronicle. ‘It felt like I was in some kind of post-apocalyptic movie or something.’
SFO said the airport was not involved in the federal operation and was not notified before it took place.
Gorb later called her longtime friend Andy Eblin from ICE’s Stockton field office, Mission Local reported.
She asked him to alert her employer, contact the owners of a cat she had been watching and arrange for someone to water her plants.
About 15 friends began working together to locate Gorb and secure legal assistance.
The Ukrainian woman was handcuffed to an airport wheelchair and taken away after returning from a domestic trip to Portland
Gorb worked at Better Half Cafe in Polk Gulch before she was detained and transferred to a facility in the Mojave Desert
ICE’s online detainee locator later showed that she had been transferred to the California City Detention Facility in the Mojave Desert.
Eblin told Mission Local that Gorb had publicly opposed immigration arrests and viewed her detention as part of a broader enforcement campaign.
California state Senator Scott Wiener condemned the arrest and warned that Gorb could be deported to Ukraine during its war with Russia.
‘ICE’s terror campaign against our communities must end,’ Wiener said. ‘Iryna Gorb made a home in San Francisco and is one of many people who help make San Francisco run.’
The Democrat, who is running for Congress, added: ‘Trump’s terror machine has no place in California and neither does ICE.’
Milli Atkinson, director of the San Francisco Bar Association’s Immigrant Legal Defense Program, warned that noncitizens could face immigration enforcement while taking domestic flights.
She told Mission Local that some immigrants with work permits or pending cases may mistakenly believe those documents shield them from arrest.
Atkinson said airports made it easier for federal authorities to identify and detain travelers, advising noncitizens to consult an immigration attorney before flying.
