ICE arrests at Philadelphia International evoke time when airport police helped military catch AWOL Vietnam War soldiers in 1960s

A historian examined 1967 Philadelphia police incident reports showing airport officers regularly helped the military catch soldiers going AWOL during the Vietnam War, decades before TSA existed, drawing a parallel to ICE's 2026 airport arrests aimed at a reported goal of 1,100 daily apprehensions.

Cases included a sailor chased down by taxi after fleeing a Navy escort, a private who evaded capture for nearly five months before being caught in Wilmington, and soldiers who feigned or suffered medical emergencies to avoid reporting for duty, including one who told his sergeant he was suicidal and overdosed in an airport restroom.

Police in 1967 also reported anti-war pamphleteers to the FBI and a local Civil Disobedience Squad, showing local law enforcement's role extended beyond soldier-catching into surveillance of dissent.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.