A video has gone viral that shows two plainclothes Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on top of a man they were attempting to handcuff at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, before onlookers asked them what was going on, prompting the agents to simply walk away from the man, whom they left with a pair of cuffs still attached to one of his wrists.
According to NBC News, Las Vegas police have confirmed that the two people in the video trying to handcuff the man were, indeed, ICE agents, and that its own officers conducted a records check and “found no outstanding warrants on the individual.”
“They removed the handcuff from his wrist and notified ICE,” Las Vegas police said in a statement.
The Department of Homeland Security identified the man as 57-year-old Phu Nguyen and said he is an Australian citizen who overstayed his visa. DHS claimed he entered the United States legally on a visa in May 2013, “with permission to remain in the United States until May 26, 2015,” which, of course, still wouldn’t explain why ICE agents needed to arrest him so aggressively, why they were not in any clothing that would identify them as agents, or why they would just up and leave in the midst of that arrest, leaving their handcuffs behind.
DHS did explain that the agents left without arresting Nguyen, who was reportedly allowed to board his flight to Los Angeles, “to de-escalate the situation and for officer safety” after a crowd formed. Nguyen was then arrested (for real, this time) at Los Angeles International Airport.
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