A North Carolina resident says Border Patrol agents smashed the window of his truck and detained him, even after he told them he had been a U.S. citizen for six years.
Honduran-born Willy Aceituno says the encounter happened on the morning of Saturday, Nov. 15, in Charlotte, according to the Associated Press, The New York Times and the Charlotte Observer.
Aceituno told the Times that he was heading to breakfast before his construction job when agents approached him in a parking lot. He said they questioned him about his citizenship status, but he delayed answering because he was trying to help others nearby who might not have their documents with them.
After about 15 minutes, Aceituno said he informed the agents that he had been a U.S. citizen for six years, and they let him go.
A short time later, while he was sitting in his truck, Aceituno said another group of agents approached and ordered him to get out of the vehicle. “I told them, ‘I’m an American citizen,’ ” he told the AP. “They wanted to know where I was born, or they didn’t believe I was an American citizen.”
According to video footage of the encounter shared by the news agency, Aceituno can be heard warning the agents, “If you break it, you will pay for it,” before they proceed to smash the truck’s window.
“Why did you do this, sir?” Aceituno asks one of the agents in the clip.
He later told the Times and the AP that he was handcuffed and held in another vehicle for about 20 minutes before being released, after he provided his documents to the agents.
Additional footage taken afterward shows broken glass scattered inside his truck. “What’s left of my poor car. Oh man,” Aceituno says in the video, which also shows scrapes on his elbow.
In a statement on Monday, Nov. 17, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said that, while conducting an immigration enforcement operation in Charlotte, Border Patrol agents approached “an individual who acted increasingly erratic.”
The spokesperson claimed that “the individual escalated the situation and refused to comply to lawful commands by officers,” adding that “officers followed their training and removed the individual from the vehicle and detained him.”
They further alleged that “the individual later admitted during an interview that he did this to distract officers and allow others to continue to break the laws of this nation,” and said he was later released.
Charlotte has recently seen an uptick in immigration enforcement activity amid President Donald Trump’s ongoing crackdown, with the Department of Homeland Security saying more than 130 people were arrested over the weekend, according to the Charlotte Observer.
The federal operations have drawn criticism from some local leaders, including Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles.
“The expected U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s operations are causing unnecessary fear and uncertainty to our community as recent operations in other cities have resulted in people without criminal records being detained and violent protests being the result of unwarranted actions,” Lyles said in a Saturday joint statement with other Charlotte and Mecklenburg County officials.
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“We want people in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County to know we stand with all residents who simply want to go about their lives, contributing to our larger community,” the statement continued. “Each of our organizations have made commitments to the people we serve to protect their rights and dignity. We are committed to following the law and to protecting the rights of all people who call Charlotte and Mecklenburg County home.”
The immigration enforcement actions also sparked protests by hundreds in Uptown Charlotte on Saturday, CBS affiliate WBTV reported.
“This is the American calling right here,” protester Zachary Bodenhamer told the outlet. “We are here to protest, to hear our voices and give our voices, that’s what democracy is all about.”
