‘Major impact on our community’: SLC mayor responds to airport ICE incident

SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said she is aware of an incident at the Salt Lake City International Airport on Wednesday night, where representatives from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained and removed a woman from the baggage area.

A video circulating online shows what looks like federal agents in plain clothes detaining a screaming woman at the airport, as travelers look on.

In a statement, Mendenhall said she did not know the reason for the detainment or details about the person involved.

Last night, I was made aware of an incident at the Salt Lake City International Airport where multiple plain-clothed ICE agents approached, forcibly detained, and removed a woman near the baggage claim area. I’ve watched what videos the public made of the incident, our responding SLCPD officer’s body camera footage, and airport surveillance footage, and 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.

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.

• The the arrest occurred in the pre-security area of the airport
• The operation wasn’t directed by or coordinated with the Salt Lake City Police Department
• A Salt Lake City police officer was present after what was reported to be a “commotion” in the terminal
• Local law enforcement is prohibited by federal law from interfering in federal immigration
• The arrest occurred in the pre-security area of the airport, which is considered a public space, despite being in the airport.
• The operation was not directed by nor coordinated with the Salt Lake City Police Department.
• A Salt Lake City police officer was present after initially responding to what appeared to be a commotion in the terminal. Upon arriving, the responding Salt Lake City police officer requested and visually confirmed the agents’ federal identification.
• Local law enforcement is prohibited by federal law from interfering in federal immigration enforcement efforts.
• The City has requested more information from federal officials about the incident.
• 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.

Initially, an ICE representative told KSL on Thursday the people captured in the video were not ICE agents. Hours later, the representative said it actually might have been ICE agents, but couldn’t confirm definitively. Hours later, ICE released a statement of its own:

Marta Brizeyda Renderos Leiva, 39, is an illegal alien from El Salvador, who entered the U.S. in 2007. She was given a final order of removal in absentia Feb. 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.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is executing its mission of identifying and removing criminal aliens and others who have violated our nation’s immigration laws. All aliens in violation of U.S. immigration law may be subject to arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removal from the United States, regardless of nationality.

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This is a breaking news article. It may be updated. 

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Contributing: Heather Petersen, KSL NewsRadio, Mary Culbertson, KSL TV and Tim Vandenack, KSL.com