While they were decorating the garden of a house in… Charlotte, North Carolinatwo Latin workers collide Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.for its abbreviation in English). The authorities tried to stop them, however Reba Hamilton, The homeowner who rented them managed to avoid arrest.
A resident of Charlotte, a city that has witnessed many immigration operations recently, heard a car stop in front of her house. Where two Hispanic workers were putting decorations on their Christmas tree.
When he went out to see what was happening, he met federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who They questioned the gardeners in Spanish and asked them where they were from.
“Are you an American citizen?”a covered-faced officer asked them, as seen in a video that Hamilton herself filmed and shared Univision.
Then the officers told them about it They were there to enforce US immigration lawsBut when Hamilton wanted to speak to them directly, the officers refused to answer and told him they could not talk.
According to the video recording, after getting no answers and as a result of Hamilton going out to the sidewalk to defend them, the officers decided to leave. “They were looking for dark-skinned people and they found some.”The woman said
The agents entered their car, their faces covered They did not have ICE identification – while Hamilton shouted at them to get out of his yard.
But the Gardeners’ story isn’t the only one involving immigrants and ICE officers in Charlotte. newly, Willy Acetono, from Honduras, also suffered a confrontation on public roads with federal agents.
What began for Aceituno like any other morning, Saturday, November 15, ended with The episode he himself described as violent and unprovoked.
According to him, he had just left Pollo Campero restaurant in Charlotte when ICE agents intercepted him in the parking lot and acted with what they considered excessive force.
“Are you an illegal immigrant?” The question was which, according to Charlotte ObserverThey’ve done this before The officers smashed the window of his truck and took the keys from his hands.
Aceituno said ICE’s first intervention occurred once he was sitting in his truck.still in front of the store located near South Boulevard and Archdale Drive.
At that moment, an agent approached him and asked for details about his immigration status. He replied that he was not obligated to answer.
The Honduran has been a US citizen for six yearsHe claimed he didn’t even get out of the parking lot before officers intercepted him again. Only about ten minutes passed between one episode and another, he said.
Show the middle man It indicates that the conflict with ICE agents left him, he claimed. He noted scratches on his elbow and the back of his neck, injuries he attributed to the moment they tried to detain him inside his truck.
Acetono also confirmed that the officers Not only did they smash the window of his pickup truck, they also “took his keys.”. According to his account, everything happened in broad daylight and in front of other people who were in the area.
Between January and June 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement would have arrested about 1,661 people in North Carolinaaccording to figures from the Migration Data Project released by NC Latin Link.
Of that total, More than half, 52%, had no convictions or criminal records at the time of their arrestThis is a fact that draws criticism from organizations dedicated to defending immigrants.
The counties with the highest number of arrests were Mecklenburg, with 436 peopleand Wake, where about 98 arrests were reported.