‘I am a US citizen, but my papers did not protect me’: Five NC men sue DHS over warrantless arrests

Five men say immigration agents arrested them without warrants during enforcement operations across NC

When Willy Wender Aceituno sat in his truck outside a Charlotte restaurant one afternoon last November, he said he had no idea the next few minutes would leave him bloodied, handcuffed, and traumatized—questioning whether proof of his citizenship even mattered.

Aceituno, 46, a naturalized US citizen who has lived in Charlotte for more than 25 years, said US Department of Homeland Security agents smashed the window of his pickup truck, dragged him out, and handcuffed him before confirming he was legally in the country. All the while, Aceituno repeatedly told agents he was a US citizen and pleaded with them to check his wallet.

“I am a US citizen, but my papers did not protect me,” Aceituno said in a statement that was included in court filings.

Aceituno is one of five men at the center of a new federal lawsuit accusing immigration agents of carrying out warrantless arrests across North Carolina.

RELATED: Arrests now top 250 in immigration crackdown across North Carolina

The class-action lawsuit, filed Feb. 24 in federal court, was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, the national ACLU, Democracy Forward, and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice. The groups say agents with DHS and its enforcement arms—Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and US Border Patrol—detained people without meeting the legal standard required for immigration arrests.

Four of the five plaintiffs are US citizens. The fifth holds a humanitarian U-Visa and work permit after assisting law enforcement in a criminal investigation.

The lawsuit alleges the arrests happened during a surge of immigration enforcement operations across North Carolina in late 2025 and early 2026.

According to the complaint, agents detained people at job sites, during traffic stops, and in public places without presenting warrants or determining whether the individuals were actually violating immigration law.

READ MORE: Immigration officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without a judge’s warrant, memo says

“Federal immigration agents have consistently ignored the law and trampled civil rights in North Carolina,” said Corina Scott, staff attorney at the ACLU of North Carolina. “This lawsuit seeks to stop this abuse of power and demand accountability going forward so that our communities do not continue to suffer violent and unlawful arrests.”

Federal law allows immigration officers to make arrests without a warrant in limited situations. Under 8 U.S.C. §1357, immigration officers may question people about their immigration status and can make warrantless arrests if they have reason to believe someone is violating immigration law and is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained.

But according to the American Immigration Council, perceived race or ethnicity are “not sufficient to establish reasonable suspicion for enforcing immigration law—the agents must have some other indication that someone in the vehicle lacks legal status.”

The lawsuit asks a federal court to block immigration agencies from making warrantless arrests in North Carolina without individualized probable cause. Similar tactics have already been challenged in courts elsewhere. Judges have blocked these tactics in Oregon, Washington DC, and Colorado, while enforcement operations in cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and Minneapolis have prompted additional lawsuits alleging people were detained in public places without reason to believe they were unlawfully present.

“I want to be involved in this case because I don’t want this to happen to anyone else,” Aceituno said. “I want to help protect my Latino family, friends, and neighbors.”

If successful, the case would clarify how federal immigration enforcement agents conduct arrests in communities across North Carolina.

RELATED: ProPublica found more than 40 cases of immigration agents using banned chokeholds