Charlotte ICE Raids: Arrests, Lawsuit, and Tillis Inquiry

The Charlotte ICE raids, officially called Operation Charlotte’s Web, were a federal immigration enforcement surge that began on November 15, 2025, and resulted in more than 1,100 arrests in and around the city over the following weeks. Led by U.S. Border Patrol with Customs and Border Protection and ICE support, the operation swept up hundreds of people with no criminal record, triggered mass school absences and business closures, and is now the subject of a class-action lawsuit alleging the arrests were unconstitutional.¹

What Operation Charlotte’s Web Was

The operation launched on Saturday, November 15, 2025, under Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, who had previously run similar surges in Chicago and Los Angeles. Agents arrested 81 people on the first day alone, which Bovino called a “record day.”² By November 17, at least 130 people had been arrested, and DHS reported more than 250 arrests within the first four days.³

Border Patrol agents left Charlotte on November 20, though DHS said the operation was “not over” and CBP and ICE personnel stayed behind.⁴ Federal officials put total arrests at more than 425 by early December and more than 1,300 by January 2026. The independent Deportation Data Project counted more than 1,100 arrests in the weeks during and immediately after the operation.¹

Enforcement spread beyond the city proper. By Monday, November 17, agents were active in the suburb of Huntersville, and Raleigh Mayor Janet Cowell said operations were expected to expand to Raleigh on a smaller scale.⁵

Why Charlotte

Federal officials framed Charlotte as a target because of local “sanctuary policies.” DHS said the operation sought to “target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to the Tar Heel State because they knew sanctuary politicians would protect them.”⁶

The specific target was Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden. After taking office in 2018, McFadden ended the county’s 287(g) program, which had partnered local deputies with federal immigration enforcement and, between 2006 and its termination, led to the deportation of roughly 15,000 Mecklenburg County residents.⁷ McFadden also refused to honor ICE detainer requests. North Carolina House Speaker Destin Hall said “Border Patrol is in Charlotte because Sheriff McFadden refused to do his job. His sanctuary policies blocked hundreds of ICE detainers.”⁸

State law had already shifted by the time the operation began. North Carolina’s legislature overrode Governor Josh Stein’s veto to enact House Bill 318, the Criminal Illegal Alien Enforcement Act, which took effect October 1, 2025.⁹ It required jail administrators to check immigration status for certain offenses, honor ICE detainers backed by administrative warrants, and hold individuals for up to 48 hours for ICE pickup.¹⁰ McFadden said his office was complying with the new mandate and had transferred 33 undocumented inmates to ICE custody from more than 90 detainers received since the law took effect, but would not go beyond what the law required.¹¹

The local Fraternal Order of Police lodge, led by Daniel Redford, also sent a letter requesting federal aid, citing staffing shortages.⁸

Who Was Actually Arrested

The Trump administration described the operation as targeting “the worst of the worst.” The arrest data showed something different. Of the 402 people arrested between November 15 and November 23, nearly half had no criminal record. Just over a quarter had prior criminal convictions, and roughly 100 had pending criminal charges.¹² An analysis by NC Local found only 30% of those arrested had a prior criminal conviction.¹

Among the first 130 arrests, DHS said 44 people had criminal records, including two identified as gang members. The cited offenses included assault, larceny, trespassing, driving while intoxicated, and hit-and-run, along with one registered sex offender.⁵ ICE, CBP, and DHS did not fulfill records requests seeking more detailed breakdowns.¹

Most detainees were sent to the Folkston ICE Processing Center in Georgia, with about a dozen transferred to facilities in Arizona, California, and Nebraska. Roughly three-quarters were ultimately deported through formal removal or voluntary departure.¹²

How Agents Operated

Agents wore masks and used unmarked vehicles.¹³ On the first day, they appeared at a laundromat and a bakery, both of which locked their doors to protect customers. Two Border Patrol agents were recorded approaching landscapers decorating a Christmas tree at a private residence and left after being confronted by the homeowner.¹⁴

One early incident became a flashpoint. Willy Wender Aceituno, a U.S. citizen, had his car window smashed by a Border Patrol agent during a stop; Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police took a report on the property damage.¹⁵ Governor Stein described a broader pattern of agents “targeting American citizens based on their skin color.”¹⁶

Not every confrontation went the agents’ way. On November 16, Miguel Angel Garcia Martinez, 24, was arrested near UNC Charlotte after allegedly fleeing officers in a van, driving across medians and sidewalks, and ramming a government vehicle carrying four officers. He was charged with felony assault, resist, or impede a federal officer.¹⁷

Impact on Residents, Schools, and Businesses

Life across much of the city effectively paused. Mecklenburg County Commissioner George Dunlap described residents as “sheltered in their homes, almost as if though they are prisoners.”¹⁸ Businesses locked their doors, churches canceled services, and restaurant workers stopped showing up for shifts.¹⁴

On Monday, November 17, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools recorded more than 30,000 student absences, about 21% of enrollment and nearly triple the 9,600 absences from the previous Monday.¹⁹ The district, whose student body is 31% Hispanic, said there had been no immigration enforcement activity on school property and kept its normal in-person schedule.²⁰ The next day, hundreds of students staged walkouts at four high schools.²¹

The economic hit was concentrated in east Charlotte and along South Boulevard, corridors with large Latino business communities. A CharlotteEAST survey found 67% of east-side businesses closed for at least one day, with daily revenue losses between $500 and $5,000 per business.²² At a Midtown high-rise construction site, attendance dropped from 180 workers to 10 on Monday. Latinos make up about 25% of Charlotte’s construction workforce, and projects across the city stalled. Latino economic output in the Charlotte metro area is estimated at $12.9 billion annually.²³

A grassroots response built up quickly. Siembra NC, Indivisible, and other groups trained thousands of volunteers to monitor ICE and CBP activity, track license plates, and identify staging areas.²⁴ Parents organized watches outside schools during drop-off and pickup.³

The Class-Action Lawsuit

On February 24, 2026, a class-action lawsuit titled Aceituno v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. The five named plaintiffs are Willy Aceituno, Yoshi Cuenca Villamar, Edwin Godinez, Yair Alexander Napoles, and Ruben Arguera Lopez. They are represented by Democracy Forward, the ACLU of North Carolina, the national ACLU, and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice.²⁵

The complaint alleges that agents carried out warrantless arrests without establishing individualized probable cause as to removability and flight risk, as federal law requires. The plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgment that DHS’s mass warrantless arrest policy is unlawful and a permanent injunction halting the practice.²⁵

Aceituno, the U.S. citizen whose car window was smashed, also filed individual damages claims on March 3, 2026, under the Federal Tort Claims Act, alleging false arrest, unlawful detention, assault, excessive force, emotional distress, and violations of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments.²⁶

The class action is before Judge Susan C. Rodriguez. DHS filed a motion to dismiss, arguing the plaintiffs “failed to show future and imminent harm.”²⁷ No ruling on the motion had been issued as of the most recent docket entry on June 15, 2026.²⁸

Senator Tillis’s Oversight Inquiry

In a rare instance of criticism from a Republican lawmaker, U.S. Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina sent a four-page letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on February 2, 2026, demanding accountability. While stating he supported the apprehension of “criminal illegal aliens,” Tillis cited public reports that U.S. citizens had been detained, subjected to force, and had property damaged. He pointed specifically to the shattered car window incident and to the detention of an 18-year-old U.S. citizen at a workplace in Cary, North Carolina.²⁹

Tillis requested encounter-level data on every stop, detention, search, and use of force during the operation, along with documentation on wrongful-enforcement safeguards, property damage claims, and constitutional training materials.³⁰ As of Secretary Noem’s Senate Judiciary Committee appearance on March 3, 2026, Tillis had received no response, and he threatened to block future DHS nominations if the department did not comply.³¹

Where the Operation Went Next

Charlotte was one city in a sequence. Before coming to North Carolina, Border Patrol had conducted a two-month enforcement blitz in the Chicago area that produced thousands of arrests and prompted a federal judge to restrict Border Patrol’s use of crowd-control weapons in Illinois and order agents to wear body cameras. Similar surges had taken place in Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon.³²

After Charlotte, the administration prepared Operation “Swamp Sweep” in New Orleans and Mississippi, a two-month operation deploying 250 border agents with a target of 5,000 arrests, scheduled to begin December 1, 2025.³³ DHS has said the Charlotte operation itself is “not over” and that agents could return.⁴

1
The Assembly. Most People Arrested in Charlotte’s Web Had No Conviction
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WBTV. 81 Arrests Made in Record First Day of Border Patrol Operation Charlotte
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CNN. Charlotte Life Under Border Patrol
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WBTV. 425 Arrested in Operation Charlotte’s Web, Federal Officials Say
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Al Jazeera. Charlotte’s Web: What’s Happening With North Carolina Immigration Raids
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CNN. Operation Charlotte’s Web DHS Immigration
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ACLU of North Carolina. Mecklenburg Co. Sheriff Announces End of 287(g) Program
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CNN. Garry McFadden Charlotte Sheriff ICE
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North Carolina General Assembly. Session Law 2025-85
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UNC School of Government. Criminal Illegal Alien Enforcement Act
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WFAE. Mecklenburg Sheriff Garry McFadden Discusses Challenges Under NC’s New ICE Cooperation Law
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BPR. Data Shows Many Arrested in Charlotte Border Patrol Operation Had No Criminal Record
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WFAE. Operation Charlotte’s Web Raises Questions About ICE and CBP Transparency
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CNN. Charlotte North Carolina Chicago Immigration Live Updates
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WBTV. Charlotte Mayor Urges Federal Agencies to Uphold People’s Constitutional Rights Amid Immigration Operation
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WFAE. Gov. Stein Criticizes CBP Actions in Charlotte, Says Tactics Are Causing Fear
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U.S. Department of Justice. Two Charlotte Men Charged With Using Vehicles to Assault Federal Officers
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PBS NewsHour. How Charlotte Is Responding to Trump Administration’s Immigration Crackdown
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Charlotte Observer. CMS Absences Amid Immigration Raids
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People. More Than 30,000 Students in North Carolina District Absent Amid ICE Raids
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WBTV. Over 30K Charlotte-Mecklenburg Students Absent Monday
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The Assembly. Immigration Arrests Economy Charlotte
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Charlotte Business Journal. ICE Border Patrol Immigration Businesses
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The Guardian. Activists Immigration Charlotte North Carolina
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Democracy Forward. Class Action Lawsuit Filed Over Unlawful Warrantless Arrests in North Carolina
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ACLU of North Carolina. U.S. Citizen Files Federal Claims After Violent Immigration Stop in Charlotte
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Law360. DHS Wants Out of Warrantless Immigration Arrest Suit in NC
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CourtListener. Aceituno v. US Department of Homeland Security
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U.S. Senator Thom Tillis. Tillis Demands Accountability From DHS on Immigration Enforcement Operations
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U.S. Senator Thom Tillis. Tillis Letter to DHS Secretary Noem
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WUNC. Tillis Criticizes DHS Secretary Noem, Demands Answers on Charlotte’s Border Patrol Operation
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New York Times. Trump Border Patrol Charlotte New Orleans
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Louisiana Illuminator. Border Patrol New Orleans