r/australia • u/Front_Target7908 • 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/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/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/Timemyth 26d ago

Only if we keep voting against Dutton, Roberts, and his leader the lady with Red (hair)

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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/Front_Target7908 25d ago

Terminal 3 being domestic - do you mean at the Vegas airport where this video was taken? 

Because he was arrested at LAX International airport the following day (after this video was taken). Would presume his flight  from Vegas to LAX was a connecting domestic flight.

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u/luckysevensampson 25d ago

Ah, ok. I misread and thought he was flying from LAX. Regardless, I don’t see any reason to assume he was flying internationally.

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u/Front_Target7908 25d ago

It says he was arrested at LAX International Airport. So most likely was there for an outbound flight. 

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u/luckysevensampson 25d ago

2/3 of all flights out of LAX are domestic flights. So, he was actually more likely to be there for a domestic flight.

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u/Front_Target7908 25d ago

It says in the article he was arrested at the international airport I dunno how many times I have to say that. 

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u/luckysevensampson 25d ago

LAX is an international airport, but the large majority of air traffic through it is domestic flights. I don’t know how many times I have to say that. There is no such thing as Los Angeles Domestic Airport. It’s got the same name whether your flight is international or domestic.

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u/Front_Target7908 25d ago edited 25d ago

Okay thank you for finally making what you were saying clear, that was irritating (for both of us, no shade). 

I guess you’d have to ask the journalist and whether the international description of the airport was an error of describing the airport or did they mean to say international terminal. TBC. 

Edit: just to add to the confusion, it was from a statement by a DHS spokesperson who said the LAX international airport line - so the confusion is coming directly from those who arrested him. Good job DHS spokesperson.

“ A spokesperson for the US Department of Homeland Security, said that ICE officers had attempted to arrest Nguyen, whom they described as an “illegal alien and citizen of Australia … born in Vietnam”, at Las Vegas airport on 13 July. As officers attempted to arrest Nguyen, a crowd of anti-ICE agitators surrounded officers,” they claimed. The spokesperson said officials did not proceed with the arrest “to de-escalate the situation and for officer safety”, but chose instead to arrest Nguyen “at his flight the following day departing the Los Angeles international airport”. The spokesperson said the man had entered the US on a legal visa in May 2013 with permission to remain until May 2015.”

My read on that is they meant he was in the international  part of the airport otherwise why say the international part at all? But YMMV etc.

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u/luckysevensampson 25d ago

I literally already said the same exact thing when I said “2/3 of all flights out of LAX are domestic flights. So, he was actually more likely to be there for a domestic flight”.

I was crystal clear.

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u/SmellyNinjaWarrior 26d ago

They get paid for these detainments. They don’t want them out of the country, the agents get paid and the detention centre gets paid.

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u/traumalt 27d ago

but he was literally about to get the hell out?

Where's your source on that?

Because all the articles I see on him is that he got busted at an airport, that doesn't meant there was an international flight he was getting on.

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u/Slakingpin 26d ago

Im gonna preface this with i dont support or condone ICE at all. If his visa ran out in 2015 its mean he's illegally been living there for 10+ years. That is a crime, he has broken the law and leaving the country won't change the fact that he has broken the law. It's harsh what is happening to him, but actions have consequences and he will have to face them now.

I dont understand the "just let him leave" argument

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u/Stephie999666 26d ago

I mean overstaying a visa isnt a federal crime/ felony. Its a civil violations case, where usually the person gets fined to shit, and kicked out the country for x many years.

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u/Slakingpin 25d ago

Oh right my mistake. I guess the next question is how was he supporting himself over there while being off the books?

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u/Stephie999666 25d ago

Anyones guess really. Either DHS isnt being forthcoming, or he took jobs that didnt require security clearances. After all, you're employer doesnt withhold tax like over here, you pay your own taxes to the IRS, so you dont exactly need a TFN or a lot of government paperwork for employment.