NEW YORK — Federal authorities say an immigration detainee about to be deported to Senegal escaped custody at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and fled in a taxi.

A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement says Mohamadou Lamine Mbacke was in the custody of ICE agents at the airport Tuesday night when he escaped. Port Authority officials tell CBS New York it was around 8:30 p.m. when he arrived at the airport and was supposed to be put on a connecting flight at Terminal 4.

The station reports his handcuffs were taken off and he was put through X-ray screening when he somehow managed to get away from agents.

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Law enforcement officials tell the station they have him on surveillance camera getting into a cab outside the terminal.

ICE says Mbacke entered the country lawfully in 2005 before violating the terms of his status.

Mbacke was ordered deported in September 2015. ICE spokesman Khaalid Walls says the 31-year-old Mbacke has criminal convictions for weapons offenses. He is described as a "violent deportee," reports CBS New York.

Walls says Mbacke remains at large Wednesday.

Officials say there is no threat to the airport.