ICE Agent Saves Choking Infant at JFK Airport Using Heimlich Maneuver: DHS

‘The ICE agent sprang into action and saved this one-year-old child’s life,’ DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said.

Travelers at a check-in area at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City on May 7, 2025. Jeenah Moon/Reuters

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent stationed at John F. Kennedy International Airport on March 25 saved a 1-year-old boy who was choking, using the Heimlich maneuver, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said.

While waiting in a busy Transportation Security Administration (TSA) precheck line, the child became unresponsive in his father’s arms, with CCTV footage capturing the child’s arms going limp as panic spread among passengers, DHS said in a March 26 statement.

The ICE agent heard the father’s screams and those of other travelers and sprinted to the scene, according to DHS.

The father handed the child to the officer, who assessed him and then performed the Heimlich maneuver. After a few seconds, the child started breathing again, the department said.

Emergency medical services personnel arrived on scene and determined he was “healthy enough to fly,” DHS said. The identity of the child and father was not released.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin praised the agent’s effort.

“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,” Mullin said. “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.”

The officer, who was not identified, was assisting TSA with security operations at JFK airport amid understaffed security lines. The Trump administration deployed ICE agents to 14 airports on March 23 in an attempt to ease understaffed security lines, as thousands of TSA agents called in sick amid the government shutdown that began in mid-February.

More than 3,120 TSA agents, who haven’t been paid in weeks, called out sick on March 25, prompting long lines at airports across the country, according to a statement DHS shared with The Epoch Times.

Passengers wait in a Transportation Security Administration line at JFK airport in New York City on Jan. 9, 2019. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

It is the second time in recent weeks that ICE officers have assisted a young child with a medical emergency, according to the DHS.

On Feb. 20, off-duty ICE law enforcement agents saved a 4-year-old who had fallen into a hotel swimming pool in Plymouth, Minnesota.

The officers were eating at a restaurant at the hotel when a panicked woman sought help for the boy, who was unresponsive. The agents performed CPR for several minutes until local police and emergency medical services arrived. The boy regained consciousness after being transferred to a hospital, DHS said.