Iryna Gorb, a 38-year-old Ukrainian photographer who has lived in San Francisco for sixteen years, was tackled and handcuffed by plainclothes federal officers on the floor of SFO's Harvey Milk terminal on the evening of July 22 — then wheeled away in an airport wheelchair, a removal tactic immigration attorneys say federal agents have used at San Francisco airports before.

The arrest, captured on video that spread widely on social media, has sharpened an urgent warning from immigration lawyers: because TSA is a federal agency, U.S. airports fall outside the legal barriers San Francisco has built against ICE — making them a uniquely exposed chokepoint for the city's non-citizen residents.

Video of the incident shows Gorb on the ground, surrounded by several men, audibly distressed. "You're choking me, they're fucking ICE — stop, stop, let me go — please help me, leave me alone," she can be heard saying as bystanders crowd in. One witness asks on camera, "What are you arresting her for?" Richmond City Council Member Doria Robinson, who shared the video on social media, described the scene as "unreal." "They just tackled her and dragged her off handcuffed to an airport wheelchair in the middle of the Harvey Milk terminal across from Gate B7," Robinson wrote, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Gorb is a Nob Hill resident who works as a photographer and at Better Half Cafe in Polk Gulch. She had been returning from a trip to Portland, Oregon. A U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Mission Local that Gorb lawfully entered the United States in 2010 on a visa authorizing her to stay until 2011 and has since overstayed it. DHS said she "attempted to flee and resisted arrest" when officers approached.

Her friend Andy Eblin, who has known Gorb for thirteen years, received a call from her at around 11:30 p.m. that night from the Stockton ICE field office. She asked him to alert her employer, notify the people she was cat-sitting for, and get a neighbor to water her plants. "She is very tough," Eblin told Mission Local. About fifteen of Gorb's friends are now coordinating with a lawyer to track her situation. She is currently being held at the California City Detention Facility in the Mojave Desert, according to an ICE locator screenshot shared by her friend Laurence Harrison.

Gorb's arrest is part of a broader federal enforcement surge. Daily ICE arrests nationally reached 1,474 during July 1–11 — a record for the second Trump administration — according to an analysis of federal data by Austin Kocher, a data analyst at Syracuse University.

Milli Atkinson, who directs the Immigrant Legal Defense Program for the San Francisco Bar Association, told Mission Local that SFO is especially vulnerable because TSA's federal jurisdiction means the city's sanctuary policies don't apply there. Facial recognition and other automated surveillance technologies are being used to locate and track individuals at airports, she said. "It's very easy for ICE to use the airport as a place to find people and immediately arrest them," Atkinson said. "Anyone flying who is not a citizen may want to check in with an attorney to help them assess risk."

Eblin said Gorb had been publicly vocal on social media about opposing immigration enforcement. "Her arrest is just one example that is part of a bigger pattern," he said.

San Francisco residents who witness a suspected ICE arrest can call the city's rapid response line at (415) 200-1548.