CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As masked federal agents detained people in Charlotte neighborhoods Saturday, top local elected officials told Charlotte’s immigrant community they have their backing.

Videos on social media showed what appeared to be federal agents making arrests. One man, a U.S. citizen, told The Charlotte Observer that agents smashed his pickup window and stole his keys. Another man said he followed federal agents, who pointed a rifle at him and threatened to shoot him.

“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,” Mayor Vi Lyles said in a joint statement with Mecklenburg County commissioners’ chair Mark Jerrell and Stephanie Sneed, chair of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education.

“Our region has thrived and grown because our strength lies in our diversity and our collective commitment to each other and to this community,” the elected officials said. “Let us all — no matter our political allegiance — stand together for all hard working and law-abiding families.”

The arrival of federal agents has caused “unnecessary fear and uncertainty in our community,” according to the statement.

In the heart of the city’s immigrant community, a photograph posted on social media around 9:30 a.m. Saturday by Immigration Alerts CLT appeared to show two federal agents behind a man with his hands behind his back at Rosehaven Drive and Central Avenue.

“STAY AWAY FROM CENTRAL AVENUE,” Immigration Alerts CLT said on social media. Greg Asciutto, executive director of the nonprofit CharlotteEAST, said many businesses on Central Avenue had closed on Saturday because of the federal activity.

Willy Aceituno said agents broke a window of his pickup outside the Pollo Campero restaurant, near the intersection of South Boulevard and Archdale Drive.

Aceituno told a Charlotte Observer reporter at the scene that the agents took his keys.

Agents twice stopped him in his pickup within about 10 minutes, he said.

“Are you an illegal immigrant?” he said an officer asked.

“I don’t have to answer your questions,” he said he replied. “Why don’t you ask other people that? Why just me?”

Aceituno said he’s originally from Honduras and has been a U.S. citizen for about six years.

Agents questioned seven men at random, man says

Manager Adam Maaroufi had just started his daily shift at Nazo’s Mediterranean Bowls and Salads in the 8300 block of Pineville-Matthews Road when he said he saw at least three agents in two black SUVs corner a man outside.

The agents asked the man about his immigration status, he told the Observer. He then saw agents stop five or six other men walking in the nearby Walmart parking lot, he said.

“Just very, very rough to watch,” Maaroufi said.

Just before 11 a.m., an Observer reporter saw two agents walking with large guns near an AutoZone on South Boulevard, as people stopped to film them and drivers honked their horns.

Agents also were seen on Arrowood Road, Sharon Amity Road and Archdale Drive, according to social media reports.

Border Patrol operations in other cities have led to people without criminal records being detained, according to the Charlotte elected officials’ statement.

The statement told people to protest peacefully.

Organizations are available to offer legal guidance on immigration matters and to answer questions about a person’s immigration status and rights, the elected officials said.

“If you need the police, don’t hesitate to call 911,” according to the statement. “Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department does not participate in Immigration and Customs Enforcement or U.S. Customs and Border Protection operations and is not involved in the planning or execution of any federal immigration enforcement activities.”

CMPD “does not participate in ICE operations”

The U.S. Border Patrol official expected to lead operations in Charlotte confirmed on social media Friday his agency’s move into the Queen City.

His troops shield their identities by covering their faces, something federal police had generally not done until this year.

He responded to criticism from state leaders.

“Immigrants rest assured, we have your back like we did in Chicago and Los Angeles,” Greg Bovino wrote on social media site X. “Rep. Adams, perhaps you & Gov. STEIN should learn the difference between an illegal alien & an immigrant. Illegal aliens have NO PLACE in our communities and should self deport via CBP Home.”

Friday morning, local and state leaders gathered outside the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center to demand transparency from U.S. Border Patrol agents.

Elected officials said they were blindsided by the news reported by national news outlets this week and confirmed by Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden Thursday. Leaders at the conference organized by N.C. House Democrats said they received no explanation for why Charlotte was chosen, what the federal mission is and how long agents might remain in the city.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officers “are not authorized to assist with ICE administrative warrants, which are civil in nature and not criminal,” according to a CMPD statement on X Friday.

“The CMPD does not participate in ICE or CBP operations, nor are we involved in the planning or execution of any federal immigration enforcement activities,” according to the statement.

CMPD officers may participate “only when there is criminal behavior or a criminal warrant that falls under our jurisdiction,” officials said.

Most recently, U.S. Border Patrol stationed at least 200 agents in Chicago. The agency helps lead the Trump Administration's crackdown on illegal immigration. Since September, border patrol agents have arrested 1,500 people, according to CBS News.

According to news reports, federal agents roamed the city and suburbs questioning people and using tear gas on residents and local police.

Protest forms in Charlotte

Deb Douglas, a member of the activist group Indivisible Charlotte, joined a protest that formed on South Boulevard.

The federal agents are “running around with masks, hiding their identities to break laws and harass community members,” Douglas said. “They’re lawless.”

When she arrived at the protest, just before 10 a.m., Douglas said she heard from someone else that a person had been arrested by federal police. She didn’t know who the person was. She had several photos on her phone of different vehicles with Border Patrol agents inside, many with Illinois plates.

Because these agents are untrained, Douglas said, it makes them dangerous.

“As a community, we can’t look away,” Douglas said. “We’ve got to protect each other.”

Eddym Ortiz, who asked Douglas for a sign so he could also protest, said he’d been following federal agents since 5 a.m.

At one point, while driving down South Boulevard, he watched a Latino man step out of a store. Agents moved toward him, Ortiz said, and he ran.

Ortiz said he followed the man and the agents. Ortiz said he asked the agents what they were doing. The agents pointed a rifle in his face and threatened to shoot if he didn’t stop following, Ortiz said.

“They said ‘Mind your business and get the f— out of here. If not, I’m going to shoot you right now,’” Ortiz said. “I let him know I know my rights, I’m a USA citizen.”

“What we are witnessing is political tyranny at its core,” Adrian Maldonado Jr., president of the North Carolina Democratic Party's Hispanic American Caucus, said in a statement Saturday afternoon. “It is no mistake Donald Trump chose the city that thousands of immigrants call home.”

“Now is the time more than ever to stand with our immigrant neighbors,” Maldonado said. “We are a nation of immigrants, and we must continue to work until every person in our state, regardless of their status, is safe.”

The Mecklenburg County Republican Party said it supported the federal action and criticized the statement by local elected officials.

“Instead of supporting federal law enforcement efforts that keep our community safe, these leaders have chosen to inflame fear and spread misinformation,” according to a statement by Mecklenburg GOP chairman Kyle Kirby.

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(Staff photographer Khadejeh Nikouyeh, reporters Jeff A. Chamer, Nick Sullivan, Ryan Oehrli, Mary Ramsey, and editor Melissa Oyler contributed.)

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