Hours before Donald Trump deployed Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to major transit hubs across the country, two federal agents were seen struggling with a woman inside San Francisco International Airport in front of her child.

The incident has drawn intense scrutiny across social media and from state and local officials, though San Francisco officials stress that it remains an “isolated incident” unrelated to Trump’s latest surge.

The arrest also demonstrates how ICE relies on charter and commercial flights through major transportation corridors to support the Trump administration’s vast deportation efforts.

Plain-clothes ICE agents were in the process of transporting a Guatemalan woman and her child on an outbound flight around 10:30 p.m. Sunday when bystanders crowded around them.

The mother “attempted to flee and resisted law enforcement officers” when agents pinned her to the ground and handcuffed her, according to a spokesperson for Homeland Security.

“ICE is working as quickly as possible to repatriate the family unit to their home country of Guatemala,” the spokesperson said.

An immigration court judge ordered their removal in 2019, according to DHS. It remains unclear whether they were seeking legal status or had any pending asylum claims.

Videos from the scene show federal agents holding the woman in handcuffs while she screams and a young girl cries behind her. The two men, who are both wearing black hooded sweatshirts, did not respond to demands from bystanders to see their badges.

San Francisco Police Department officers can also be seen forming a barrier between the family and bystanders.

At one point, the agents can be seen pulling the woman’s arms behind her and dragging her to a wheelchair while she is lying on a bench, surrounded by bystanders telling them to leave her alone.

“This is un-American,” a person can be heard saying.

Moments later, the agents are seen whisking the woman away in a wheelchair.

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel both said they believe the arrest is an “isolated incident” unrelated to Monday’s surge of ICE agents into U.S. airports.

“Like many San Franciscans, I found the incident at SFO last night upsetting,” he said in a statement.

“We have no reason to believe there is broader federal immigration enforcement at SFO,” according to Lurie. “SFPD officers remained at the scene to maintain public safety and were not involved in the incident. Under our city’s longstanding policies, local law enforcement does not participate in federal civil immigration enforcement. Those policies keep us safe and will not change as long as I’m mayor.”

SFO was “not involved in or notified in advance of this incident,” according to Yakel.

“Airport operations continued without disruption, and there was no impact to flights or passenger processing,” he said in a statement.

SFPD responded to the scene after receiving a 911 call at roughly 10 p.m.

“SFPD officers were not involved in the incident but remained at the scene to maintain public safety,” police officials said in a statement. “SFPD has a large presence and is responsible for public safety at the airport.”

ICE deportations can include both “escorted and unescorted removals,” including commercial flights with ICE escorts.

California state Sen. Scott Wiener, who represents San Francisco, stressed during a press conference Monday that “ICE is not welcome in San Francisco or at San Francisco International Airport.”

“We don’t need ICE or Border Patrol or any of these other thugs in our city and our airport,” he added. “They’re not welcome here, and they need to stay the hell out.”

House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Kevin Mullin, both of whom represent San Francisco in Congress, issued a joint statement rebuking the “aggressive” arrest as “another heartbreaking example of how Trump’s inhumane immigration enforcement is terrorizing communities across America.”

“The hardworking TSA staff at SFO are contract employees, and we are relieved to hear this incident is not related to Trump’s threat to send ICE agents into airports to perform sensitive airport security for which they are not trained,” they said.

“Trump and Republicans are failing to keep communities safe and posing risks to families across America,” the lawmakers added.

SFO is among more than a dozen U.S. airports that use private contractors for security screening at checkpoints to enter terminals rather than federal Transportation Security Administration employees.

Because those are privately funded airport staff, SFO’s employees continue to be paid during the partial government shutdown — which has left federal TSA workers without paychecks for nearly a month as travelers endure hours-long wait times getting through security.

Armed ICE officers wearing military-style vests moved into at least 13 major airports on Monday, including airports in New York City, Houston and Atlanta, to supplement essential TSA workers who are unpaid during a congressional deadlock over future funding for the DHS, which oversees TSA as well as ICE and other immigration agencies.

ICE officers, who are still being paid during the shutdown after the agency saw a multi-billion dollars injection of taxpayer cash last year, were seen largely standing around and patrolling airport terminals on Monday.

Travelers, meanwhile, continued to queue through hours-long lines despite the expected relief from federal agents, making it unclear what impact, if any, the deployment of armed officers into American airports will have on wait times plaguing security checkpoints.