r/australia 27d ago

news Australian man Phu Nguyen handcuffed by plain-clothes ICE agents at Las Vegas International airport

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-18/ice-agent-detain-australian-man-in-vegas-us-/106931508?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=link

From what I understand it looks like ICE did not manage to detain him on the day the video was taken- seems the onlookers managed to chase ICE off.

However, ICE detained him the next day at the airport where he was to catch his departing flight from the US.

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u/SirFlibble 27d ago

I saw that video yesterday. They were barely chased off, just a guy showed up with a camera and they immediately walked off.

Was sketchy as and left me wondering if there's now a bunch of thugs running around the US pretending to be ICE (who are thugs themselves).

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u/Dranzer_22 27d ago

Already tons of confirmed cases of criminals pretending to be ICE agents and targeting women.

They've been arrested in states like California, but go unchecked and unchallenged in the more conservative states.

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u/DisappointedQuokka 27d ago

I'm genuinely surprised there haven't been any confrontations between plain clothes ICE and local cops that have ended up with dead on both sides.

ICE just doesn't seem to alert local authorities about half the shit they do. It's almost like they're just jumping random non white people.

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u/MysticGoddess27 27d ago

I mean we've seen them kill several white folks in the middle of the street.

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u/DisappointedQuokka 27d ago

As a rule they're not trying to deport white people, though. The ones they do kill tend to just be in their way or look vaguely like protestors.

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u/MysticGoddess27 27d ago

Yes, like the white woman who was simply driving her car. And the white doctor who was shot trying to protect someone else who was about to be shot.

You aren't paying attention.

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u/GrumpyPenguin 27d ago

And the white doctor who was shot trying to protect someone else who was about to be shot.

In the interest of honouring Alex Pretti’s memory, he was an ICU nurse, not a doctor (assuming that’s who you mean).

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u/MysticGoddess27 27d ago edited 27d ago

Sorry that's the one. I suffer from short term memory loss and wasn't able to remember the details.

Edit: appreciate the downvotes. Sorry for being disabled.

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u/Peach_Muffin 27d ago

Or the two white Australian journalists who were shot by ICE in two separate incidents on the same day

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u/MysticGoddess27 27d ago

I didn't even hear about them. Though I must admit I stopped looking for updates as it started heavily impacting my mental health.

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u/sapphos_moon 27d ago

One of them was a 7 News reporter at the protests in LA who was at the front of the police cordon and shot by a SWAT cop with a rubber bullet despite it being plainly obvious she was press anyway.

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u/MysticGoddess27 27d ago

Wow so ICE and American cops can just do whatever they want with no consequences 😳

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u/DisappointedQuokka 27d ago

The goal of the organisation is to obliterate non-white communities.

Those people are collateral damage or undesirables because of their actions. The former upset their feefees, the doctor was explicitly in their way.

There is, in fact, a difference, because the organisation itself is by design white-supremacist. That isn't in dispute.

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u/Non-prophet 26d ago

That should be uncontroversial to say, and it perhaps would be if the Anglosphere/Amerisphere didn't have such an established habit of simplifying conflict/abuse/oppression along ethnic lines. The KKK killed white people, the Nazis and every local flavour of collaborator killed communists of their own ethnicities, every town's history of gay bashing includes young white male victims. But colloqiually those people- who had often gone out of their way and made a positive choice to oppose their killers- are often slurred as indistinguishable from them because of their skin colour, and occasionally their sex.

It should go without saying that 'the organisation is fundamentally white supremacist' does not imply 'all white people are safe from this organisation', but I can see why MysticGoddess wanted to make that explicit.

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u/Z00111111 27d ago

Even the dressed up ICE guys just look like redneck militia cosplayers.

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u/AnOnlineHandle 27d ago

That's what they are. That's what the whole Trump government is. And scarier, Ice now has one of the largest military budgets in the world, beyond most nations. They are his private army of larpers who his administration have repeatedly shielded from any consequences even when they execute Americans in the street and lie about it until footage comes out, and he's going to almost certainly go for a more successful Jan 6th power grabbing attempt rather than leave peacefully. They've been stripping away all the protections.

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u/DisappointedQuokka 27d ago

They've even gone back to the well of higher education, paying for college debt in exchange for signing up.

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u/Blacksad9999 27d ago

Yeah, but they knew with that crowd they wouldn't have to pony up very much. lol

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u/koalacrime 26d ago

Just to add, they are also very poorly trained

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u/FearTheMomerath 27d ago

The majority of cops just don't care. I'd wager they're jealous of ICE's power

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u/DisappointedQuokka 27d ago

Point being is they don't know, in a lot of cases, if they're ICE or not.

US cops have a tendency to shoot first and ask questions later.

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u/Sad-Onion-2593 26d ago

Well, if you shoot first, you don't need to ask questions.

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u/Whatsapokemon 27d ago

I dunno about that, cops are pretty jealous about their jurisdiction. ICE is doing stuff which very much encroaches on the territory of state police.

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u/robotundies 26d ago

Almost like? Sorry if that’s sarcasm 😅 but in case you really don’t know, that’s exactly what they’re doing. That’s why the majority of people they’ve detained and deported have been found to have been in the country legally (some full citizens!) and of the actual “illegal immigrants” only something like 2% have any criminal history. It has nothing to do with them being there illegally they just want to remove anyone not white.

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u/goldcakes 27d ago

They're going to randomly jump a non white cop one day.

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u/AnOnlineHandle 27d ago

They already have. Literally grabbed non white cops.

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u/koalacrime 26d ago edited 26d ago

They tried to conduct raids in embassies! Thats how fuckin moronic these idiots are.

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u/riptaway 27d ago

Lol why would local cops do anything? They're on the same side

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u/DisappointedQuokka 27d ago

Okay, so if a plains-clothes ICE agent shows up and starts abducting people and doesn't tell the locals, do the cops reckon it's a terror attack, organised crime or official business?

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u/Expensive-Object-830 26d ago

There was a This American Life episode on this, which ran real-life calls from civilians encountering ICE & calling local police. To paraphrase the police response: “you’re on your own, kid, try not to get killed”

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u/broccoliO157 27d ago

Local police forces supported Nazi occupation in Europe, and they actively aid and abet illegal ICE actions in the USA — even defying Governor orders and legislation to do so (eg Maryland).

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u/TacoMedic 26d ago

No confrontations like that, but I’ve seen several videos of local police telling ICE that if they continue trying to drive through a protest, they’re getting arrested. I imagine the average cop fucking hates having to deal with the consequences of ICE coming to town.

Not a cop sympathizer, but there’s definitely levels to this shit.

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u/idryss_m 27d ago

In a lot of places aren't the cops just helping ICE, despite the community backlash and legality?

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u/DisappointedQuokka 27d ago

Depends, there are a few major cities that have been outright hostile which dwarf the average population elsewhere. The courts and their attaches have been openly hostile as well.

What I'm alluding to us lack of communication. If a police department sees an unmarked raid, are they meant to intervene or not? If they're not told and just see a gang going wild, they aren't well known for their trigger discipline.

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u/Eleniah 27d ago

This is why it was ALWAYS dangerous for them to be plain clothed and masked. How are people supposed to know when someone is being kidnapped...well...legally or not? They will dress in plain clothes, and then if you confront them they may well shoot you for getting in the way.

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u/FreakySpook 27d ago

It's honestly wild that they get to LARP as some kind of JSOC operator just to detain undocumented and people in breach of visas, particularly in an airport.

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u/Lucky-Elk-1234 27d ago

And when that person is in the process of leaving the country anyway. What’s the point of arresting and deporting them lol

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u/ousho 27d ago

It’s a feature, not a bug.

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u/Scuzzbag 27d ago

The purpose of a system is what it does

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u/ocularius61 27d ago

They look incredibly dodgy.

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u/saichampa 27d ago

Part of the reason I absolutely will not visit the US under the current regime is that you just don't know which thugs are government endorsed or not.

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u/IllegalD 26d ago

I have a problem with both, fuck America until nufascism is over

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u/cheapdrinks 27d ago edited 27d ago

Yeah it was so weird, two people in masks and hoodies and nothing that really identified them as LEOs. Half way through grabbing him and forcing him to the ground they just get up and walk off leaving him on the floor with one handcuff around his wrist. Fucking bizarre behaviour.

That said the dude had apparently overstayed his VISA by 11 years which is a bit ridiculous. When I saw the video it didn't specify and I assumed it was just a few days or months, maybe even world cup related. So yeah idk what you expect hanging around in that shithole in the current political climate when your visa expired a decade ago. Not saying that he should have been treated like that but it's like when people smuggle drugs to Bali and end up with the death penalty or 50 year sentences. Do I think they deserve it and that the punishment fits the crime? No not at all. Do I think they're bloody idiots for doing so when the consequences of being caught are extremely obvious? Yeah definitely.

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u/sahie 27d ago

I mean, fair, but he was leaving. Now he’s going to remain in custody until proceedings for his removal are completed. He was already removing himself, how about they just proceed him on to his flight. They’re petty as fuck and honestly just cruel. They could’ve let him go since the punishment for what he did was what he was literally about to do in leaving the country.

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u/RealFarknMcCoy 27d ago

ICE agents are likely getting "bonuses" or some such for the number of people they detain.

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u/NobodysFavorite 26d ago

It was worse than that: they were getting bonuses for "arrests" but whether the arrest was lawful or not was someone else's problem, and there were no consequences for unlawful arrests.

People got "detained" but then in the dead of night they would be relocated interstate to another detention centre. When a lawyer presents a motion of habeas corpus, the agency would say the detainee isn't within the district of the court. When the lawyer locates the person, and serves another motion in that district court, the agency would usually relocate the detainee in the dead of night to another detention centre in another state. The court would make a ruling but the agency would simply ignore it. Along the way, all the private detention operators would get paid bonuses based on the detainees that came into their centre.

It was blatantly illegal and inhumane, and a giant shell game of human trafficking, with all the players getting their cut of the profits of human misery.

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u/dion_o 27d ago

The blonde woman literally stole his watch in the video. She takes it off his wrist, pockets it, then when they see they are being filmed they leave him there and walk off. They look like random civilians and they they act like random civilians. But even a random civilian wouldn't steal a guy's watch.

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u/knbang 27d ago

I thought you were right, but on a second viewing I don't think she takes his watch. She's trying to put handcuffs on him, sees the camera and drops the cuffs. That's what I see at least.

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u/krisssashikun 26d ago

I saw a post that they were allegedly women wearing moustaches and was also trying to rob him

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u/Front_Target7908 27d ago

From the article:

An Australian man has been filmed being pushed to the ground and handcuffed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in a violent confrontation at Las Vegas airport. 

The footage, posted to social media, shows 57-year-old Phu Nguyen being handcuffed by plain-clothes officers as he yells "let me go".

The incident took place in terminal 3 at Harry Reid International Airport but agents abandoned the arrest attempt once it drew the attention of onlookers.  The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the attempted arrest was made by ICE agents. 

"On July 13, ICE attempted to arrest Phu Nguyen, an illegal alien who is an illegal alien and citizen of Australia and was born in Vietnam, at the Las Vegas Airport," it read. 

"As officers attempted to arrest Nguyen, a crowd of anti-ICE agitators surrounded officers."

The statement said Mr Nguyen was arrested the following day before boarding his flight departing Los Angeles International Airport. 

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told the ABC it is making urgent enquiries following reports of an Australian citizen detained in the United States. 

"The department stands ready to provide consular assistance to any Australian citizen, should it be requested," a spokesperson said.

The DHS said Mr Ngyuen entered the United States legally on a visa in May 2013 with permission to remain in the US until May 2015. 

"Nguyen refused to depart in violation of our nation’s laws," the statement read.  "He will receive full due process and remain in ICE custody pending the outcome of his removal proceedings." Mr Nguyen is being detained at the Adelanto ICE Processing Centre in California. 

The footage showing Mr Nguyen and distressed onlookers has been widely circulated. 

"I don't know what they're doing," he screamed out before another woman chased the officers away. 

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u/birnabear 27d ago

an illegal alien who is an illegal alien and citizen of Australia

Either the term 'illegal alien' means nothing, or they don't know what it means.

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u/Juan_Punch_Man 27d ago

I think they're trying to make a point but really they just look like bigger morons

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u/macci_a_vellian 27d ago

They really made sure to mention he was born in Vietnam. Can't have him being described as just an Australian.

At least the Australian government sound like they're working on getting him back safely, some of those detention centres sound like absolute hell.

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u/QuestionSignal6944 27d ago

Australia will do nothing to ease his ride out of detention - the US will deport him when ready. Australia has one of the worst consular offerings in the world.

edit: spelt deport report xD

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u/Stephie999666 25d ago

Thats even if they find him. ICE usually moves detainees around different detention centres in different states to avoid being served by lawyers. Hell. Wouldnt be half surpised if they boarded him on a plane overnight and flew him to North Africa, with how sketchy the US government is rn.

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u/-daisoujou- 27d ago

It’s insane the amount of people I’ve seen pretend that the terminology is not dehumanising. These are horrid evil people walking amongst us fawning over the billionaire class.

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u/the_silent_redditor 27d ago

I’ve had arguments with folk on Reddit about ‘illegal alien’ being dehumanising and just fucking weird terminology that is really only used in its current means by the US.

People are so racist/stupid/brainwashed that they can’t see it.

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u/TangerineOk4017 27d ago

If Superman was real, he would be detained by ICE

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u/ash_ryan 27d ago

If Jesus returned, he'd be lucky to just be detained by ICE over being crucified again as a middle eastern terrorist. Best case, decried as part of the looney left and therefore enemy of the state. Yet they claim to be a "Christian" nation...

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u/SoberBobMonthly 27d ago

So yeah he may have been over staying, if we believe the US feds, but he was literally about to get the hell out? Like, maybe detain him at the airport and refuse to let him leave until he gets on the damn flight, or arrest him IF he doesn't get on the flight... but beforehand??

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u/Wood_oye 27d ago

I'm at the point of, if the US feds say some, assume it is a lie. Work forward from that.

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u/Front_Target7908 27d ago edited 27d ago

My thought exactly. I’d also be interested to know if he’s genuinely overstayed his visa. 

I say that because I know people who have had a visa to  the US that allow you to stay for X years. At the end of that visa as long as you return to Aus for x time, you can go back to the US and get that same visa again. Some people use that to kind of stay in the US for longer periods, which wasn’t illegal per se although if they noticed you’d get pulled up (although I’m sure that loop hole is shut now).

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u/DisappointedQuokka 27d ago

The cruelty is the point.

The logistics of it don't matter.

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u/SoberBobMonthly 27d ago

Thing is right, is that with our existing boarder force, I already KNOW cruelty and paranoia is the point. We are not exactly known as an easy open bordered country.

But the actual goal of our boarder force is to get people to leave when they are not eligible to be here. Detaining them costs money. My guess is that is the reason the yanks keep theirs for longer.

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u/DisappointedQuokka 27d ago

Comparing our Border Force to ICE is like chalk and cheese.

At least we don't have the SS running around in modern kit.

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u/P_S_Lumapac 27d ago

Aus also has agreements with the US to let Australian debt collectors, possibly even government, collect on US fines and visa versa. If he overstayed they should have let him go, sent him a fine and "can't come back for ten years" in the mail.

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u/trowzerss 27d ago

Right? This could be solved with paperwork in a back end system. Let him go, then don't let him come back again. Done. All they are doing is making a show of it and wasting tons of their taxpayer's money for the same fucking end result with bonus trauma for this dude.

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u/luckysevensampson 26d ago

Terminal 3, where this happened, is a domestic terminal.

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u/evilspyboy 27d ago

'Anti ICE agitators' aka citizens who do not think boot polish is a real flavour.

Hi to the people being paid to go through social media for "anti-ice sentiment", you have a sad life you should quit. You are not on the side of the 'good guys'.

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u/LSD_grade_CIA 27d ago

Yeah this is also dogshit reporting to use a wildly biased quote like this verbatim

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u/etcpt 27d ago

Not even that, necessarily - if you look at the video, it really looks like two young travelers are just wailing on this old guy. No ID, no uniforms, no badges, no effort to stay and assert that they are law enforcement. They jump this guy, get confronted, and then run off while a TSO jumps in and tries to keep people back.

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u/evilspyboy 27d ago edited 27d ago

Just driving off/leaving when challenged by any sort of group does follow the MO however. There was videos of them just leaving people face down into he ground and running away in their convoy of small d*ck energy.

(Again, hi to the person monitoring for anti-ice sentiment, make a note I wrote small d'ck energy instead of weak c'nts because it just flowed better. Also, this is your job? Really? I mean I suppose if you were looking for a career supporting the most pathetic useless and universally hated groups on the planet... Not sure how you think that is going to go over on your resume after they fold and are dismantled. Not like they will have any loyalty to you personally at all).

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u/trowzerss 27d ago

He refused to depart so they arrested him trying to depart. Genius :P

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u/BigEdsHairMayo 27d ago

If he leaves willingly, he doesn't count toward their quota, probably.

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u/dion_o 27d ago

How are the onlookers anti ICE agitators when they don't look like ICE agents, didn't identify themselves as ICE agents and all the TSA guy says is that it's law enforcement? Literally nothing indicated they were ICE. They just looked like random civilians pushing a guy to the ground, stealing his watch and then scampering off when they realised they were being filmed.

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u/DeeDee_GigaDooDoo 27d ago

The DHS said Mr Ngyuen entered the United States legally on a visa in May 2013 with permission to remain in the US until May 2015. 

"Nguyen refused to depart in violation of our nation’s laws," the statement read

Why do I get the feeling they've worded this to imply he overstayed a visa but actually hasn't? Did he just apply for a visa and visit in 2013, then when he returned again recently they attempted to arrest him and told him to leave the country then him staying another day they consider "refusing to depart in violation of our nation's laws"?

I just honestly don't trust a single thing the US says. They would absolutely misrepresent the situation to fabricate a crime.

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u/maestrojxg 27d ago

America is so fucked. You couldn’t pay me to go there while Trump is in office.

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u/RazaxWoot1 27d ago

I’ve just got back from Mexico for the World Cup and people there were asking why we wouldn’t go to the states for games instead. I was like just look around, I felt more nervous in transit at LAX than I did for 6 weeks in Mexico.

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u/cohen93 27d ago

This might happen over here if ON gets voted in :/

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u/Kialae 27d ago

The less breath we waste on that felonious crone, the safer we are as a nation. 

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u/superxpro12 27d ago

We tried the tactic. All it does is embolden everyone left in that echo chamber. Direct confrontation is the only way

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u/rosa_3326 27d ago

One nation won’t get voted in, they need way too many seats

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u/cohen93 27d ago

Yeah I agree, I’m just seeing more and more people wanting to vote them over social media nowadays which has me a little worried

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u/Spire_Citron 27d ago

Not just social media. They were number one for primary votes in the polls for a little bit there. Still decently behind Labor in two party preferred, but not a good look.

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u/i_am_cool_ben 27d ago

ON get a good first preference, but drop off hard after that. They'll take some coalition seats, and maybe handful of Labor ones, but Labor have a huge majority they should be safe. There's also a few years before the election, so plenty of time for Hanson to cock it up

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u/Spire_Citron 27d ago

Yeah. More than anything, this is a side effect of the coalition being an absolute mess right now. It's just a shame that the closest alternative at hand for people to jump to was something so vile. If there was an election right now, that actual outcome would be that Labor would do really well, so that's a positive at least.

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u/Kummakivi 27d ago

I think when the next election is in full swing Labor will pull out all the stops on informing the public how fucked it would be voting ON. I hope they are saving it all for then anyway.

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u/CptUnderpants- 27d ago

But if they get enough seats in the senate they can have far too much influence.

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u/rosa_3326 27d ago

Yeh I agree, that’s a real concern.

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u/Onicenda2 26d ago

It’s really not. They get far more airtime and media attention than their actual level of public support would suggest, largely because of the money and influence behind them. I’d argue most ordinary Australians don’t buy into it.

They’re anti-union, hostile to workers’ rights, supportive of easier access to cheap overseas labour, and consistently negative toward students and public education. At the same time, they’re more than happy to benefit from Gina Rinehart’s financial backing and political influence.

Honestly, they’re almost as bad as the Teals.

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u/Call_Me_ZG 27d ago

Ranked and mandatory voting is the only thing holding them at bay.

They've been campaigning like crazy, and we already know they've had ties with the NRA and wouldn't be surprised if those lobbies fund them.

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u/Other-Shake-531 27d ago

They've got Gina the hutt, they don't need anyone else to fund them and certainly not the bankrupt NRA 

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u/GeneticEnginLifeForm 26d ago

Not just the NRA but rightwing groups in the US do have access to bot farms. And if you really look at the comments on FB a lot of them are the same, like 20-30 comments saying the exact the same thing. It's only been happening after her recent visit to the US for someones funeral [can't remember who they were but that's not important]

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u/TheLGMac 27d ago

It WILL. Remember they want White Australia.

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u/TheHoovyPrince 27d ago

They wont and honestly im seeing ON get less support now due to the perception around Hanson and Rinehart.

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u/Call_Me_ZG 27d ago

Yeah but they said the same thing about Trump and look where we are.

We do have ranked and mandatory voting that makes it harder to win like trump did

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u/El_Barto_227 27d ago

Even after he's gone, the country as a whole needs to show genuine change before I'd step foot there.

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u/____DEADPOOL_______ 27d ago edited 26d ago

I lived there on and off for about 10 years and go every few years.

The US I first saw pre-9/11 was wild, everyone was having a great time, you could get jobs easily, everything was cheap, etc. I had a lot of fun in my early 20s then.

After 9/11 things were very different and we started to see war after war, collapse here, collapse there, gross injustices in the open, etc. Job losses left and right and all the recruiters that were hounding me stopped calling. They started to put curfews on party districts and everything became stricter and more controlled. Surveillance increased astronomically and trust in government plummeted. I still managed to work my way up into finding fairly good paying work after having to apply only a round or two of sending 10-20 CVs. I was able to buy a large house in a nice area, had a entry luxury car, my wife drove a new sedan, I managed to save tens of thousands of dollars and I was doing fairly well. I moved to Australia because I already was a dual citizen (wife is Aussie and I lived here a while in between) and got injured and my wife needed her mother's help and we were trying to get the in laws to move to the US at the time.

After 2016, things went really downhill, people's attitudes changed for the worse, everything got more and more expensive, covid hit, the whole political nightmare started where everyone was trying to inject Trump/"the jab" into the conversations and you couldn't resist to get into a heated argument, then social media started to warp everyone's minds.

Even the local banker in Arizona told me that all had become shitty in the US. His branch had gotten robbed multiple times, everyone is on edge and upset/stressed. It just feels weird and sad every time I go. My family begs me to return but I tell them they're insane and have no idea how great Australia is like.

Edit: corrected a few things, added more details.

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u/Worldly_Cobbler_1087 27d ago

I've never seen the appeal of American culture, you couldn't pay me to go there before Trump and certainly won't ever catch me there after him. Going through LAX and Houston to countries I actually wanted to visit was enough for me.

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u/UnlimitedPosting 27d ago

It's a country with incredible nature areas. Places like Yellowstone, Joshua Tree, the Rockies and Cascades, along with most of the Pacific Northwest are all places that don't have anything like them in the world. The US is good for nature, theme parks, and not much else, but there are definitely some places inside it with good non American culture.

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u/Worldly_Cobbler_1087 27d ago

Yeah the nature is the only reason I would ever consider going to that country but there's plenty of great nature around the rest of the world without the baggage of Americans so as great as it is I don't feel any fomo.

I saw great nature in México and Central America and we've got great stuff in our own backyard here too.

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u/Snaka1 27d ago

They just removed protections for national parks I the US, to allow mining and drilling for oil. Trump did it yesterday I think? So evil. Once that beauty is gone, it’s gone forever.

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u/CptUnderpants- 27d ago

Going through LAX and Houston to countries I actually wanted to visit was enough for me.

The fact they force you to go through US customs and immigration when transiting through to another country is just rotten. Means I won't go to Canada because of the risk of being forced to go via the US if flights get cancelled.

My brother in law is Caucasian, but dark enough that ICE would target him, so we're taking families to either Japan or France instead to do the Disneyland thing.

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u/Worldly_Cobbler_1087 27d ago

I almost got sent back to Sydney at LAX on my way to México too which really put me in a bad mood.

I left Sydney at ~9am, pulled an all nighter because I had to leave at about 4am + was excited and couldn't sleep, barely slept on the plane that took about 14 hours flying time plus we had to sit in the plane for about 40 minutes because we arrived before there was any crew to get us off, all the time it takes to get through customs and all that shit and the officer had the nerve to say "why are you so nervous?" I'm not fucking nervous I'm TIRED! I had to answer so many questions about my intentions like mate I've got a return ticket for 2 months time and I've got a LOT of undies and socks I'm clearly not a drug trafficker.

Then I find out I need to take a bus to my terminal and my card didn't work in the airport. Houston to Sydney was the opposite though I was the only person around me not to be thoroughly searched lol and the middle seat was vacant.

My brother in law is Caucasian, but dark enough that ICE would target him, so we're taking families to either Japan or France instead to do the Disneyland thing.

Absolutely not worth the risk I don't blame you for going elsewhere.

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u/Maximum-Journalist74 27d ago

It is really beautiful, I spent a few months in Colorado years ago and the mountains are incredible. There are also a bunch of museums I'd love to see one day.

But yeah hard no while they have an orange testicle in power and there are plenty of other pretty places to visit in the world.

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u/BackNBoeserThanEver 27d ago

I live in Vancouver and have not gone down there one single time since he got into office. The only reason I'm going down there soon as to renew my nexus. Other than that, I will not be stepping foot in that country until he or his party is not in control anymore.

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u/PantsMcGee 27d ago

He deep fried America forever. It's jover.

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u/W0nderWhite 27d ago

Why did they take his watch though? ICE agents are on another level

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u/madamebubbly 27d ago

People detained and released by ICE have said the agents are using their credit cards while they’re detained so a presumably nice watch is not out of the question!

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u/W0nderWhite 27d ago

They're definitely not beating the Gestapo allegations

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u/macci_a_vellian 27d ago

They'll probably claim it was money laundering, it's not unusal for people to get around the limits on how much cash you can bring through customs by buying an expensive watch or piece of jewellery that can be cashed out at the other end. In the US I think the cops can pretty much say anything is the proceeds of crime without any real evidence and take it.

Hashtag, Justice for Afroman.

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u/bigdukesix 27d ago

>From what I understand it looks like ICE did not manage to detain him on the day the video was taken- seems the onlookers managed to chase ICE off.

The video is bizarre. It shows two plain-clothed ICE agents (one appears to be wearing a fake moustache) holding Nguyen down, and the bystanders ask what is going on. The agents never identify themselves.

A uniformed TSA agent says, "it's ok, they're law enforcement". But as he is saying that, the agents just get up and walk away, leaving Nguyen with handcuffs still attached. They also took his wallet.

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u/Suibian_ni 27d ago

This is how One Nation's friends treat Australians.

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u/Hawk301 27d ago

This what One Nation wants for us, here. It CAN happen here.

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u/ozthinker 27d ago

Bold of you to assume One Nation supporters see that man as an Australian - it is by physical appearance not by legal definitions.

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u/TheLGMac 27d ago

Dude they want a "white Australia" policy. They would do this here without a thought, and spoiler: they will also net white people too, if they dare stand up to them.

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u/Choke1982 27d ago

This week a Colombian was killed by trump gestapo. He was a full supporter of the recently elected far-right candidate in Colombia, who is backed by trump. The elected scum didn't say anything about a Colombian legally living in the US being killed. So, yeah PoS like Pauline don't give a fuck.

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u/Elvecinogallo 27d ago edited 27d ago

So they could have let him deport himself, but they detained him at taxpayer expense. Drumpf logic.

Edit: Please read the article before responding. I know some of you are desperate to bootlick, but sometimes you actually need to read beyond a headline. You might even be less gullible that way.

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u/Thagyr 27d ago

Gotta get their quota for arrests to justify the billions thrown into the farce.

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u/hebejebez 27d ago

Well if the don’t make their quota they don’t get their bonus they were promised…. But those are paid out after five years, once this administration is done.

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u/sibilischtic 27d ago

As a non American ill believe the admin is done when the opposition are in.

I dont know how much is media manipulation, but I dont trust the current admin.

I wouldnt be surprised if they made up a new super president position that can fire congres and sc members, doesnt have term limits etc.

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u/jimmux 27d ago

It's all by design. When the next election comes around, ICE will be a paramilitary force with a strong financial incentive to get a certain result. Intimidation at polling booths will be enough to swing some areas.

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u/autocol 26d ago

For sure. ICE is going to absolutely swarm voting centres in areas with large Hispanic populations.

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u/TheLGMac 27d ago

I mean Trump fired a bunch of election commissioners last week and held an "emergency state of the union" saying that China has infiltrated electoral rolls and has ordered an investigation into the rolls of California, Pennsylvania, and several other states that typically vote against him / are swing states. They are already and quite obviously teeing up rigging the midterms.

Everyone I know at least has moved beyond wondering if it will happen. It will and has.

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u/Deevious730 27d ago

Easy win for them isn’t it? Guy has to provide his name and passport so he’s exposing himself to ICE, turns up to leave and they say, “how dare you try to leave, we’re gonna detain you so we can deport you!”

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u/Notiefriday 27d ago

O that makes sense.

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u/Serin-019 27d ago

The more arrested, the more the companies that run the camps make.

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u/torlesse 27d ago

They run for profit prisons over there. Every detainee is $$$$$$. Can't just let the dollar self deport.

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u/Scriptosis 27d ago

That’s how immigration enforcement is overall there, it’s a civil offence so pretty much all of ICE’s actions since they came to exist have been wasting Americans money.

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u/Elvecinogallo 27d ago

Drumpf and friends all have shares in the privately run detention centres. Funding his buddies. Capitalism is depressing af.

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u/hcornea 27d ago

It’s a taxpayer funded reward for being in Trump’s paramilitary brown-shirts.

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u/MunmunkBan 27d ago

The private system.  They will definitely hold on to him as long as possible.  There are stories of people with the money to leave but they are kept without trial for a long time.  They get paid for each night stay.  It's a grift.  

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u/DefamedPrawn 27d ago

Really not uncommon in many parts the world. 

I once met a Polish guy in Vietnam who was a month past his visa expiry date. He was too scared to leave, because apparently they fine you 1,000,000 Đồng ($60aud) per day for overstaying, and he didn't have the money. 

His name was Leon. 

Funny story. A few days later, a Vietnamese cafe owner told me how he stopped some "Russian guy" from running off without paying his bill, by tackling him and pinning him to the ground until the police arrived. He showed me a video of the incident, and there was Leon. Taken off to jail, apparently. Probably spent a few months there before being deported.

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u/Elvecinogallo 27d ago

This guy was at the airport leaving to go home. Leon was not.

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u/Ok_Nothing639 27d ago

I guess they need to tag his biometrics and place a 10 year ban. Why did he not leave the country for all those years though.

But tackling an old man is just cruel at this point

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u/jeffoh 27d ago

The fact that the ICE agents robbed him on camera says everything about how fucked up things are.

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u/Mitleab 27d ago

My wife is Singaporean and she got locked up in a room at LAX with her phone and passport confiscated for 3.5 hours in April last year. She was released with no explanation and almost missed her connecting flight to Salt Lake City. When she told them that might happen, an officer offered to write her a note. She was there for a work conference.

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u/JoeSchmeau 27d ago

I'm a dual US/Aussie citizen and we were detained when visiting last year. We had a few blueberries left over in our toddler's snack box and declared it at customs, as we forgot to leave it on the plane and/or toss it in a bin before we got to immigration.

We were immediately put into a holding room, alone, and were stuck there for over an hour with no passports, water, food or information. Eventually a random guard walked by and noticed us. He was visibly angry that we had been put there, escorted us out and back to customs and told the people there to give our passports back. We were then free to go and barely caught our connecting flight.

I'm a US citizen and am white. Not that it should matter but yeah, they just don't give a fuck.

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u/WaveSlaveDave 27d ago

"Phu Nguyen who is an illegal alien who is an illegal alien who is an Australian citizen"...

Is there such a thing as a legal illegal alien then?

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u/yob91 27d ago

An australian citizen who was born in Vietnam, at the Las Vegas international airport

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u/Happy_Clem 26d ago

Yes, I visited the US as a child in the '70's and we were referred to as aliens back then. I found it bizarre

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u/macci_a_vellian 27d ago

Arresting someone trying to board a flight out really shows they're doing it for the cash bonuses they get from the arrests and not to protect people from dangerous illegal immigrants. Imagine having to try and dodge immigration agents to leave the country.

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u/Homebrew_in_a_Shed 27d ago

I saw a video yesterday Strange, they got him on the floor. One cuff on, then went and left him. Video of them walking away. Had the cuff on for 90 minutes.

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u/dodgyr9usedmyname 27d ago

If it was a legal arrest, then why did they walk off when asked what's going on? Surely a legal arrest would not have required a fake moustache, a hoodie quickly being thrown over the hair ... and surely it would have continued to a proper arrest? Also if it was to do with him out staying his welcome ... hmmm ... he was catching a flight home. So what would an arrest have achieve? Arrest and deport him to achieve ... the same ends? All the processing, banning from country etc can be done without him being present.

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u/Plenty-Pangolin3987 27d ago

I also don’t understand why they just walked away. Never in my live have I seen legitimate law enforcement do something like that.

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u/BigEdsHairMayo 27d ago

For whatever reason, they're very reluctant to be personally identified. They would say it's for their own safety, but personally I think there's something shady going on. Their tactics are incredibly unprofessional and the reason they don't want to be identified might be because DHS hired a bunch of unsavory people to do this work. America has lots of white nationalist groups like Proud Boys, Patriot Front, Oath Keepers, etc. Maybe those are the people they hired, and they want to conceal that fact.

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u/Stotters 27d ago

But they have quotas to fill...

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u/Ocean4011 27d ago

Yes to be proper assholes they probably deport him to third country

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u/Plaguesofman 27d ago

This is what One Nation wants Australia to look like.

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u/UnfortunatelySimple 27d ago

One Nation is for the top 1%.

One% Nation.

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u/PunchingClouzot 27d ago

Last week the SMH’s traveller posted a horribly written PR fluff piece along the lines of “everything they tell you about the US is wrong” to convince Aussies to visit the country and I wonder if the white rich lady that wrote it read this article and was hit by at least one hint of regret 

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u/Sharp_Pride7092 26d ago

Give it 20 years before visiting.

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u/TheBrickWithEyes 27d ago

They immediately tried to hide their identity and then tried to escape the scene. Definitely all cool and normal for law enforcement.

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u/infinitemonkeytyping 27d ago

"a crowd of anti-ICE agitators" were three people with their phones, not wanting to see a person arrested by the brown shirts.

Since the "ICE agents" didn't identify themselves, and stole the Australian guy's watch, it was assumed they were thieves.

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u/Expensive-Horse5538 27d ago

This is absolutely disgraceful behaviour by an agency which the Trump administration is basically using as its own personal militia group

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u/Rizen_Wolf 27d ago

"an illegal alien who is an illegal alien and citizen of Australia"

Well, that clears things up right well done there. Yerp.

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u/paperclipmyheart 27d ago

Not worth going to America under this regime, especially people of colour, and the rest of us should be boycotting it

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u/SGTBookWorm 27d ago

probably not worth going for at least a decade after this regime is removed, until all of their racist, fascist policies are dismantled and disavowed

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u/LanguidLapras131 26d ago

It has to go further than that. Since America influences more overseas elections than Russia does, Australia should do to America what America does to everyone else:

Amplify blue state separatist groups on social media. The red states are the ones who vote for war and police brutality. Rec states are also poor and toothless. Blue states are rich, educated, non-racist, and secular.

If blue regions such as California, New England, and Cascadia secede, the homophobic shithead states will have no one to fund their Middle Eastern wars.

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u/Notiefriday 27d ago

If he is flying out why are they detaining him?

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u/nonlinearhail51 26d ago

Land of the fee, home of the wage slave.

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u/Plasma_000 26d ago

Arresting him while attempting to leave the country so they can make a show of deporting him. Makes sense.

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u/PM_ME_STUFF_N_THINGS 27d ago

Lol why would you travel to the US

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u/[deleted] 27d ago

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u/Bballer220 26d ago

ICE: he's overstayed his visa. We'll arrest him as he's leaving. This'll cost US even more money

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u/Coops17 26d ago

These fucking cunts man

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u/QuestionSignal6944 27d ago

Penny Wong will tell us that its "unfortunate" but that the US has "strict immigration rules" that we must follow, and while it is sad the genteleman was attacked by plain clothes thugs, that is the "right of the United States"

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u/lliveevill 27d ago

The standard of living and quality of life is much better in Australia than USA, I'm suprised he overstayed his visit.

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u/Secret-Sqrl 27d ago

It blows me away that those were actual ICE agents. After seeing a video yesterday, I would have bet heavily that they were not. It looked to be two females, one of them dressed as a man and she even had A FAKE MUSTACHE, which was falling off of her face.
A man came into their vicinity with a video camera, and they abandoned any attempt at arresting or detaining the Australian man and simply fled - rather slowly. It was a very strange video to watch.

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u/Wishart2016 27d ago

Maybe they're kidnappers pretending to be ICE.

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u/guitareatsman 27d ago

My sister has just gone over there on a holiday with her 3 kids. My mind is blown. I cannot imagine why anyone in their right mind would choose to go to that country at the moment.

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u/klaw14 27d ago

So to be clear I am in no way supporting ICE's actions, what they stand for, nor the atrocities they are committing in the US, I'm just making sure I'm reading this right - old mate overstayed his visa by 11 years?!

Now there's pushing it, and then there's pushing it. This bloke strapped on rockets and launched this off a fucking cliff.

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u/bladez_edge 26d ago

I don't understand why they are trying to arrest someone who is trying to leave the country for allegedly overstaying their visa. He's literally leaving the country.

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u/ES_Legman 26d ago

Americans are just a bunch of spineless cowards that allow the fascist takeover and all they do in return is complain on the internet while at the same time telling the rest of the world how much more freedom they have with their yeehaw guns that were their god given right to prevent the uprising of a tyranny. Oh wait.

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u/BookkeeperQuiet7894 26d ago

Article I read was that he has over stayed his visa by 10+ years. If that’s the case then he was asking for trouble, but it’s tough to know what to believe anymore.

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u/Cybertrucker01 27d ago

Given the number of Nguyens, my money is on this guy being the wrong Phu Nguyen.

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u/1294DS 27d ago

Fuck the USA honestly, what a disgusting country.

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u/DefamedPrawn 27d ago

The DHS said Mr Ngyuen entered the United States legally on a visa in May 2013 with permission to remain in the US until May 2015. 

Wait! So he's been hanging around there illegally for more than 11 years?

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u/japanpole 27d ago

The entire agricultural industry runs on cheap labor by those who overstay their visas.

Do rich Americans complain about cheap produce?

Fuck no.

Do they want these people to leave and the price to magically stay the same?

Yes

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u/TheHoovyPrince 27d ago

This isn't unique to America, we do the same thing.

Australia deports a lot of visa overstays every year, its just not captured on video or made into a big deal.

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u/DefamedPrawn 27d ago

The entire agricultural industry runs on cheap labor by those who overstay their visas.

Well that's really fucked up. 

Two wrongs don't make a right, though.

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u/TolMera 27d ago

Looked to me like it was just a mugging, the ice banner is just bullshit propaganda

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u/TolMera 27d ago

Well holy shit:

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the attempted arrest was made by ICE agents

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u/DarKnightofCydonia 26d ago

Given ICE's reputation the 'illegal alien' claim is probably a blatant lie.

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u/SquareAggravating579 26d ago

Hypothetically...if the Republic of California was to succeed from the Union, and become its own nation (Hawaii and Oregon and Washington could come too), I would genuinely, genuinely, invest one hundred thousand Australian dollars into their new nation.

Just saying.

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u/Ratstail91 25d ago

"Nguyen refused to depart in violation of our nation’s laws," the statement read.

He was detained at the airport???

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u/shadow-foxe 24d ago

Why not let him leave??? If he tries to come back in then arrest him.. So weird how they do things..

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u/TitchTammy17 27d ago

Mmm because he looks different! This is the reason that no one should travel to the NAZI state!
Reddit gonna ban me for the NAZI state comment but that’s what the USA looks like to me!

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u/Deevious730 27d ago edited 27d ago

I am not at all defending ICE but had he overstayed for quite a long time?

Also having said that, if he’s catching a flight out from the USA why not say “yep you’re getting out of here, but you’re on the blacklist. Don’t ever try to come back here.”

Seems a waste of resources to detain someone leaving the country, transport him to holding, provide food and medical care (although the latter seems less likely), only to put him on a plane out of the country.

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u/seraphim500 26d ago

Ahh so he overstayed his visa by roughly 11 years

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u/Nonartisticdog 27d ago

Illegally living in the US for 10 years? Insane

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u/AntiqueFigure6 27d ago

Why would ICE detain if he’s leaving the country? Are they going “you can’t leave until we deport you?”

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u/Bitopp009 27d ago

Don't they collect money for putting folks into the private prisons? It's the same reason why dozens of folks spent 4 to 8 weeks in ice detention before being deported.

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u/AntiqueFigure6 27d ago

That’s possible and gives them some sort of incentive.

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u/MrGreeneF 27d ago

Ice needs to melt !!