Australian man detained by ICE in Los Angeles after airport arrest attempt interrupted by bystanders
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was making urgent enquiries.
A man believed to be an Australian citizen has been detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement after bystanders interrupted an earlier attempt to arrest him at an airport in Las Vegas.
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ICE Los Angeles said in a post on X that Phu Nguyen, 57, originally from Vietnam, had overstayed his visa.
Footage shared online by filmmaker Chris Motley appears to show an attempted arrest at Harry Reid International Airport on Monday.
Motley said he heard a cry for help while walking through the terminal.
The video shows Nguyen shouting while a man and a woman, both wearing surgical masks, hold him on the ground and put him in handcuffs.
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🚨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
Nguyen can be heard saying: “I don’t know what they’re doing.”
The footage also shows an airport security officer standing between Nguyen and a growing crowd of bystanders, before the two people involved in the attempted arrest walk away, leaving handcuffs hanging from one of Nguyen’s wrists.
Nguyen then says: “Where are they going?”
Motley later wrote on Instagram that police arrived soon afterwards, but that Nguyen remained partially handcuffed for more than an hour.
He said: “The man was checked out by a medical team before boarding his flight, thankfully he was OK and able to catch it.”
ICE Los Angeles later said Nguyen had taken advantage of “attempts by agitators to help him evade ICE officers at Las Vegas airport”.
The agency said he was taken into custody on Tuesday after landing in Los Angeles.
Nevada Democratic senator Jacky Rosen criticised what she described as the agency’s “violent attempted arrest of an elderly man”.
She wrote: “Plain clothes. No uniforms. No body cameras. No identification. ICE is continuing to act with impunity – instilling fear in our communities and scaring tourists, which hurts our tourism economy.”
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was making urgent enquiries after reports that an Australian citizen had been detained in the United States.
According to ABC, the US Department of Homeland Security described Nguyen as “illegal alien and citizen of Australia … born in Vietnam”.
The case comes amid growing scrutiny of ICE in the United States, with officials facing calls to reduce the agency’s street operations after two men who were not the intended targets of enforcement action were killed within less than a week.
There have been 22 deaths in ICE custody in 2026.
In a post on X on Friday, senior Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer criticised the Trump administration’s expansion of the agency.
He wrote: “The Trump administration rushed 12,000 agents onto our streets without ensuring they were fit to carry a badge and a gun – and Republicans gave this rogue agency vast power and no accountability.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the Department of Homeland Security were contacted by LBC for comment.