7 Aug 13th - Aug 19th, 2026 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | Flight Risk A lawsuit claims United Airlines set up a passenger for an ICE arrest at Sky Harbor. BY MORGAN FISCHER O n a sunny Sunday morning inside Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport’s Terminal 3, a 44-year-old Zimbabwean woman approached her United Airlines flight’s gate counter with her husband. A gate agent had called her repeatedly over the terminal’s intercom. As the couple stood in front of the counter, the gate attendant made refer- ences to Patience Gore’s boarding pass — odd, since she already had it in hand. As Gore approached the counter, three men walked up to her. “Ma’am,” one said, “you’re going to need to come with us.” The men worked for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. For the next two weeks, in March of this year, ICE detained Gore in three separate facilities in Arizona. A 2011 order from an immi- gration judge may have been all that saved her from being deported, even though she had legal status, no criminal record and an 11-year-old American citizen daughter at home. Her detention was harsh. She was denied basic necessities and medical care, and the ordeal disrupted an in vitro fertilization cycle, jeopardizing her chances to have another biological child. The Department of Homeland Security released her after her lawyer filed an uncontested habeas petition. Now Gore and her husband, Olaoluwa Omotosho, a 36-year-old U.S. citizen from Maryland, are suing United Airlines. Their lawsuit’s account of events, above, ultimately asserts that the gate agent set her up, calling Gore to the counter knowing that ICE would seize her. The suit states: “Taken together, the near-simultaneous intervention, abrupt cessation of the purported airline inter- action, absence of any identified airline issue, absence of any visible surprise or inquiry by United personnel, and absence of any further call concerning the purported airline matter or final boarding while Plaintiffs remained in the terminal support a reasonable inference that the encounter was anticipated.” The couple is suing United Airlines for negligence and false imprisonment for the airline’s role in her apprehension. They allege that the incident cost them more than $75,000 in damages, mainly from legal fees and the failed IVF cycle. When reached by phone, Gore, who is representing herself in the case, declined to comment. ICE acknowledged Phoenix New Times’ request, but did not respond to ques- tions. United Airlines did not respond to New Times’ request to comment. Withholding of removal To understand this fiasco — in which a law-abiding immigrant is snatched by the state, held in deplorable conditions and then freed with a shrug — it’s important to understand how Trump is twisting laws meant to protect people who move to the United States seeking safety. Over the past year and a half, the Trump administration has created what Third Country Deportation Watch describes as an “opaque web of formal bilateral agreements and behind-the- scenes deals” to send increasing numbers of immigrants to countries where they have no ties. As of May, the organization has found, the administration has deported more than 22,000 immigrants to at least 26 different third-party coun- tries since Trump took office on January 20, 2025. This system has become a back door for the administration to deport people who couldn’t get asylum in the United States but do have what’s called a with- holding of removal order. Weaker than asylum status, that legal status is none- theless meant to protect migrants who fear persecution in their home country from being deported there. Undeterred, the Trump administration has made deals with third-party countries to accept deported migrants and then, presumably, in turn deport them to their home country, effectively bypassing the protec- tion that a U.S. court offered. Meanwhile this year, ICE has upped its presence at airports nationwide. About a week after ICE agents detained Gore, the administration deployed dozens of agents to Sky Harbor in a poorly explained effort to ease security staffing issues during a partial govern- ment shutdown. ICE agents stand around during a deployment to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on March 23, 2026. (Morgan Fischer) >> p 8 | NEWS |
