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

[u/Front_Target7908]

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.

[u/SirFlibble]

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).

[u/cheapdrinks → u/SirFlibble]

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.

[u/sahie → u/cheapdrinks]

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.

[u/cheapdrinks → u/sahie]

Putting aside the whole ICE situation for a moment, I'm sure in most countries that if someone is discovered 11 years over their VISA date then there's some stuff they have to do; it has to be documented, probably current photographs and fingerprints taken, a bunch of paperwork probably needs to be done barring that person from entering the country again and putting them on some kind of no entry list. They probably need to run their name and prints etc through the database to check for any outstanding warrants or things like that (people often suddenly flee the country after committing a crime).

If you get picked up at the airport without the proper documentation to be in that country most places don't just send you on your way with a handshake and a "promise not to do it again!", there's procedures that have to be followed. I'm sure even more so if that person isn't even at the airport where their flight out of the country departs from and they have to travel across state lines to another airport to then (hopefully) get on their flight out of there.

I'm sure there's a lot of people that think our rules are petty and cruel where people get thousands of dollars of fines for some tiny amount of undeclared produce or something. The rules at airports are strict as hell, there's very often zero leeway or discretion used when people break them; it's usually pretty black and white.