A Charlotte resident who cast his ballot for President Donald Trump now says he deeply regrets that choice after being briefly detained by federal agents on his way to work.
Willy Aceituno, 46, a Honduran-born U.S. citizen, told the Associated Press that Border Patrol agents stopped him twice in North Carolina’s largest city. During the second stop, he said, agents smashed his car window, pulled him from the vehicle and forced him to the ground. He was later released once officers confirmed his citizenship.
“It was the worst decision of my life,” Aceituno told MS NOW, referring to his vote for Trump. He said he had supported the president because of his tough rhetoric on border security and his promises about the economy.
“He said he was going to catch the criminals, but right now, he doesn’t follow criminals. He goes specific to Latino people,” Aceituno said.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson told Newsweek that Aceituno had admitted during an interview that he tried to distract officers so that others could continue breaking the law. “He was later released,” the spokesperson said.
Federal authorities confirmed on Saturday that immigration enforcement operations had intensified in Charlotte, with agents making arrests at multiple locations. Trump returned to the White House largely on his immigration agenda, pledging stricter border controls and the deportation of millions of migrants without legal status.
Aceituno said he saw a large group of Latinos fleeing from Border Patrol agents and questioned why they were running. He recalled telling officers, “I’m an American citizen,” but said agents still asked where he was born and appeared skeptical of his status.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wrote on X that, during the operation, Aceituno “became erratic, refused lawful commands, and had to be removed from his vehicle,” adding that officers “followed their training to remove him.”
Aceituno disputed that characterization in comments to The Charlotte Observer. He said he never blocked agents, never tried to assist anyone he believed was a criminal and did not physically interfere with their work. He acknowledged attempting to delay the agents by talking to them, but questioned whether that could meaningfully impact a federal operation.
DHS later wrote on X that Aceituno had admitted he was trying to distract officers so others could evade the law. Aceituno, however, insisted to The Charlotte Observer that his actions did not amount to obstruction.
“I was talking to them, not restraining them,” he said. “They’re security officials of the United States, the most powerful country in the world. I don’t think a dummy like me could distract such capable people.”
He also argued that if he had truly obstructed officers, he would have been arrested. “If I were obstructing them in their work, they would have arrested me, and I would be in jail. They don’t have a justifiable basis. Obstructing justice means arrest,” he said.
Aceituno has filed a police report over the damage to his vehicle.
The Trump administration has continued to defend such enforcement operations in cities across the country, including Los Angeles and Chicago, framing them as key tools for both crime reduction and immigration control. North Carolina’s Democratic governor, Josh Stein, has said that many of those detained in these sweeps had no criminal convictions, and that some, like Aceituno, were U.S. citizens.
In Charlotte, Border Patrol agents have been carrying out “Operation Charlotte’s Web” since Saturday, with personnel temporarily reassigned from Chicago. DHS told Newsweek on November 17 that more than 130 people were arrested over the weekend. NewsNation later reported that 200 arrests had been made in North Carolina since the start of the operation.
Reflecting on the confrontation, Aceituno told The Charlotte Observer: “How would you react to an assault on your person? I mean, you’re not going to grab your [head] and say, ‘Ay.’ You’re going to react defensively, or you’ll get angry. That’s normal.”
DHS, for its part, used the incident to issue a broader warning. “American citizens should NEVER help criminals evade officers,” the department wrote on X.
Officials have indicated that enforcement in Charlotte is likely to expand as DHS ramps up resources to carry out the president’s mass deportation plans.
