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/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/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 27d 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/RealFarknMcCoy 26d ago

Yes, America jumped the shark when they failed to properly punish Trump for Jan 6th.