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The video was taken by author Shannon Hale, who posted it online and also described her experience in a post to her Tumblr blog. Hale wrote that the incident happened right in front of the security line.
In the video, the ICE officers are in plainclothes, with nothing to visually identify them as federal agents. They are lifting the woman off the ground, who is clearly distraught and screaming “Help me.” She also appears to say, “I have my papers” as the agents are carrying her away. One police officer in uniform stands between the agents and the crowd watching.
Hale stated that she asked an airport worker in uniform what was happening, and they told her that the men were ICE agents.
ICE confirmed to ABC4 that the woman being arrested in the video is Marta Brizeyda Renderos Leiva, 39. Reportedly, she was in the country illegally, and she is from El Salvador. She entered the U.S. in 2007, and she was given a final order of removal in absentia on February 19, 2020.
“She was arrested during a targeted enforcement operation Oct. 29, 2025 at the Salt Lake City International Airport and will be held in ICE custody pending her removal to El Salvador,” ICE said in a statement.
ICE stated that they are “executing its mission of identifying and removing criminal aliens and others who have violated our nation’s immigration laws.” They added that anyone in violation of U.S. immigration law may be subject to arrest, detention, and removal from the United States if appropriate.
Glen Mills with the Salt Lake City Police Department told ABC4 that the ICE officers identified themselves to the SLCPD officer on scene. He said that because the airport is a public space, the SLCPD does not have jurisdiction over a federal agency, and the SLCPD officer stepped in because he heard a commotion and wanted to make sure that everything was okay.
Mills added that SLCPD has officers at the airport as part of public safety.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall also released a statement on the situation. She wrote that she has reviewed public video, the body camera footage from the SLCPD officer, and airport surveillance footage of the incident.
“I am left wondering and aching from the fear and pain these types of operations keep striking in my heart and the hearts of so many of us,” she stated.
I do not know the reason for this detainment nor details about the individual, as we seldom do when ICE acts, but I do know that this incident has had a major impact on our community. There is so much about ICE operations that create a sense of fear, and we know we’ll likely never receive answers to our many questions that surround them. In this case, for example, why were the agents in plain clothes without visible identification? Why did they choose the lobby of the airport—the gateway to our state—where some 28,000 people enter every day? What I do know is that nothing about this incident, like so many ICE operations, makes me feel safer as an American.”
Statement from Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall
She also sought to address some misinformation that has been spreading online, stressing that the operation was not coordinated with the SLCPD, and that local law enforcement is prohibited by federal law from interfering in federal immigration enforcement efforts.
“In daily city operations when SLCPD arrests an individual for suspicion of a crime, that individual’s immigration status does not factor into how our officers handle a situation, nor do officers screen for immigration status when placing a person under arrest,” she added.
Amelia Hobson contributed to this story.
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