A disturbing video showing the violent arrest of an 18-year-old U.S. citizen by immigration agents in Florida has sparked outrage and renewed criticism of the state’s increasingly aggressive immigration enforcement tactics.
Kenny Laynez, a high school senior and Florida native, was headed to his landscaping job on May 2 with two coworkers and his mother, who was driving, when their car was pulled over by authorities for allegedly having too many people in the front seat. Within moments, the stop escalated into a chaotic scene involving Border Patrol and Florida Highway Patrol officers.
In footage captured by Laynez, an officer can be heard telling him, “You got no rights here. You’re an amigo, brother”—despite Laynez being a U.S. citizen by birth.
“It hurt to hear that,” Laynez told CBS News. “They said I had no rights because I’m Hispanic. But I was born here. I’ve lived here my whole life.”
The video shows officers using a Taser on at least one of the vehicle’s occupants. According to Laynez, two of his coworkers were undocumented and were taken into custody. He has not been able to contact them since the arrest.
“We weren’t resisting. We weren’t trying to flee. There was no reason for it to go that far,” Laynez said.
Even after Laynez was detained, his phone continued recording. In the background, one officer can be heard telling another, “They’re starting to resist more. We’re gonna end up shooting some of them.” Another responds, “Just remember, you can smell that too with a $30,000 bonus.”
Neither the Florida Highway Patrol nor U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) acknowledged in statements that a U.S. citizen had been wrongly detained. CBP said only that the individuals involved “resisted arrest” and claimed immigration agents are facing increased threats on the job.
The incident comes as Florida prepares to deputize more than 1,800 additional law enforcement officers to carry out immigration operations under Governor Ron DeSantis’s statewide crackdown on illegal immigration.
Mariana Blanco, director of the Guatemala Maya Center, warned that the rapid expansion of immigration enforcement powers among state and local officers is already having dire consequences.
“Laws are no longer being respected,” Blanco said. “When you deputize officers with limited training in immigration law, situations like this—where an American teenager is treated like a criminal—are going to become more common.”
The video has since gone viral, adding fuel to a growing national debate over civil rights, racial profiling, and the limits of state power in immigration enforcement.
