ICE officer saves life of unresponsive 1-year-old at JFK Airport

An ICE officer at JFK Airport performed the Heimlich maneuver on a 1‑year‑old who stopped breathing, reviving the child and allowing the flight to continue, and DHS highlighted the rescue as the agency’s second recent child-saving incident.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcementofficer is credited with saving a toddler's life at John F. Kennedy Airport.

The ICE officer, who was at JFK Airport to assist Transportation Security Administration personnel, responded March 25, when a 1-year-old child became unresponsive in the arms of his father and was unable to breathe for almost two minutes, according to a news release from the Department of Homeland Security.

The officer responded after hearing the father hollering for help. The father handed the unresponsive child to the officer, who began performing the Heimlich maneuver, according to DHS.

After a few seconds, the child started breathing again. When EMS personnel arrived, they reassessed the child, who was determined to be healthy enough to fly, DHS said.   

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Closed-circuit TV footage posted on X by DHS shows a passenger in a TSA Precheck line holding the child with lifeless arms and then the father is seen looking for help, scrambling around the area, and calling for help.

“The ICE agent sprang into action and saved this one-year-old child’s life. If our agent had not been there and stepped up, this would have been a tragic outcome,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement. “Despite the endless smears and lies told about them by sanctuary politicians and the media, our ICE officers show up every day to protect the Homeland and their fellow Americans.”