CHARLOTTE — Channel 9 reporter Hunter Sáenz saw people using whistles to alert others as Border Patrol agents conducted operations, the same week two U.S. citizens were detained in Plaza Midwood after allegedly following agents during the immigration crackdown that has led to 250 arrests.
Sáenz and his crew were in a parking lot across the street from the ABC store on Albemarle Road on Wednesday when they heard whistles.
People have used whistles to warn others that Border Patrol agents are around. They have been in Charlotte since Saturday and are expected to stay until Friday as part of an illegal immigration crackdown.
There have been 250 arrests so far, Homeland Security officials said Wednesday. Many of them have criminal records.
Sáenz followed the sound across the street, where there were federal agents.
The scene was clearing as unmarked cars with Customs Border Patrol agents inside rolled out.
In the parking lot next to the ABC store, Teresa Ordonez was handing out whistles. She works at a nearby restaurant.
“They were actually circling around the parking lot, and they were trying to see people who were in their car,” Ordonez told Sáenz.
Ordonez said the agents went up to a man in a truck, asking him questions.
“I guess they were asking him for papers or his legal status,” she said.
Nobody was taken into custody.
Minutes before that, witnesses captured video of federal agents walking onto to a construction site where a Panda Express is being built on Albemarle Road.
The same witnesses recorded Border Patrol agents inside Dr. Stylo Hair Salon on Albemarle Road earlier in the day.
The agents warned witnesses, “If you keep following us and impeding, we will take you in handcuffs.”
Citizens cited
Sáenz also spoke with a witness who captured video of two U.S. citizens being arrested on Monday on Kilgo Way in Plaza Midwood for allegedly following agents. The charges were dropped.
Shea Watts was at home when he heard yelling outside, so he looked out of a window.
Border Patrol agents surrounded a white SUV with two U.S. citizens inside, he said.
“His assault rifle, like this, with the barrel at the driver in the SUV,” the witness said.
The agents used the rifle’s barrel to smash the driver’s side window, video shows.
Two women were arrested.
Watts walked outside. The agents didn’t tell him what happened, but the driver of the SUV did.
“He said I was driving erratically because they were chasing me down the road,” the driver said.
The Department of Homeland Security told Channel 9, in part, in a statement, that “two U.S. citizens used their vehicle to impede agents. Border Patrol gave multiple warnings to stop, which they ignored. Agents initiated a traffic stop, and after the drivers refused to exit their car, the subjects were extracted and arrested.”
People said the women were honking to alert others that agents were in the area.
The two women were released and given citations.
“I think there was a moment of moral clarity that this isn’t right, this shouldn’t be who we are,” Watts said.
The two women did not live in that neighborhood.
They ended up on the dead-end road and pulled into a random driveway.
“Don’t come over here”
Border Patrol agents were also seen targeting Doctor Stylo Salon on Albemarle Road, where the owner claims he felt harassed by the agents.
Pedro Baez, the owner of Doctor Stylo Salon, has operated his business for over 10 years and is a naturalized Dominican American.
He captured the encounter with border patrol agents on his cell phone, which showed agents questioning him about his immigration status.
“Don’t come over here to harass me like you are doing to other people!” Baez exclaimed during the encounter, as seen in the cell phone video.
Baez reported that the agents told him, “Why don’t you go back to your country?” to which he responded, “Why don’t you go back to your country, you’re clearly Hispanic too.”
Cell phone videos have played a crucial role in documenting these tense interactions between border patrol agents and individuals in East Charlotte.
Baez’s video showed him being questioned about his nationality and naturalization status.
Eyewitnesses have recorded agents circling parking lots and questioning various people, including those at a construction site for an upcoming restaurant.
Agents warned witnesses that impeding their patrols could result in being taken away in handcuffs.
Despite the federal law enforcement activity, Baez’s video shows that no arrests were made during the encounter at his salon.
He believes the agents targeted his shop because of the Hispanic appearance of those present.
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