North Carolina Citizen Files Damages Claim After Border Patrol Arrested Him, Then Left Him on the Roadside
· Reason
A North Carolina man has filed a claim seeking damages from the federal government, alleging he was arrested last year by immigration officers despite having valid REAL IDs, then dumped on the side of the road once the officers confirmed he was a U.S. citizen.
Viral cell phone video taken on November 18, 2025, by Fernando Vazquez Orea, an 18-year-old landscaper, showed Border Patrol agents uncuffing Vasquez in a wooded area. One of the officers throws Vasquez's ID and other papers out of an SUV, onto the ground, before driving off.
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Now Vasquez, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of North Carolina, has filed a claim for damages under the Federal Tort Claims Act, a typical precursor to filing a civil lawsuit if the claim is ignored or denied by the government. Vasquez's claim alleges Border Patrol officers detained and handcuffed him during a warrantless construction site raid on November 18, 2025, and loaded him into an SUV, even though Vasquez provided the officers with his REAL ID.
"I am a hardworking blue-collar worker and landscaper," Vasquez said in an ACLU of North Carolina press release announcing the damages claim. "I plant trees, lay sod, and help improve the environment through my work. I have no criminal record, I graduated from high school, and I have goals like anyone else. One of my biggest goals is to start my own business and build a better future for myself and my family. On that eventful day, I believe I was targeted because of the color of my skin. I was handcuffed and placed in the back of an SUV, terrified and uncertain about what was going to happen next or whether I would still be able to achieve the goals I had worked so hard toward."
Vasquez is also one of five plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit filed by the ACLU of North Carolina challenging warrantless immigration arrests in the state.
Another of the plaintiffs in that suit, Willy Aceituno, was stopped by Customs and Border Protection agents in Charlotte last year but let go after he showed them his REAL ID. However, according to the lawsuit, after Aceituno started filming them on his phone, the agents shattered his truck window, threw him onto the pavement and broken glass, then drove him two miles away before leaving him on the side of the road, bleeding and disoriented.
"Mr. Vazquez and Mr. Aceituno's damages claims are part of a national effort to hold the federal government accountable and challenge the unlawful and abusive tactics that have harmed communities across our state and country," Corina Scott, a staff attorney at the ACLU of North Carolina, said in a press release. "North Carolinians have repeatedly witnessed and experienced these harms firsthand, and these claims are a meaningful step toward accountability and recourse."
According to the ACLU of North Carolina, Vasquez and Aceituno's claims are among 54 filed across 17 states and Washington, D.C., as part of a nationwide campaign challenging the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) warrantless immigration stops.
Vasquez and Aceituno's claims are similar to those of scores of other U.S. citizens who say they've been detained, handcuffed, and in some cases assaulted by immigration officers. The Institute for Justice, a nonprofit public interest law firm, filed a lawsuit last year on behalf of Leo Garcia Venegas, an Alabama construction worker and U.S. citizen who has been detained and handcuffed three times by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers despite having a valid REAL ID on all three occasions. The law firm is also representing George Retes, a U.S. citizen and Army veteran, who was tear-gassed and jailed for three days last July during an immigration raid in California. ProPublica identified at least 170 Americans who'd been detained by ICE in an investigation published last October.
The DHS has argued in court filings and testimony in Venegas' case that REAL IDs aren't reliable confirmation of citizenship, even though federal law requires states to verify citizenship before issuing them, and even though the DHS is the agency responsible for ensuring state compliance with the law.
The DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
However, in previous statements to Reason, the DHS has repeatedly said that "allegations that DHS law enforcement engages in 'racial profiling' are disgusting, reckless, and categorically FALSE. What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is if they are illegally in the U.S.—NOT their skin color, race, or ethnicity."
"DHS is NOT arresting U.S. citizens by mistake," the statements continued. "DHS enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence. We know who we are targeting ahead of time. If and when we do encounter individuals subject to arrest, our law enforcement is trained to ask a series of well-determined questions to determine status and removability."
Nevertheless, those statements don't account for how citizens like Vasquez ended up on the side of the road.
"The entire experience left me feeling powerless, frightened, humiliated, and deeply shaken," Vasquez said. "It has had a lasting emotional impact on me. I believe what happened to me was unjust, and I am seeking accountability and justice for what I experienced. I want my story to be heard so that no one else has to go through what I experienced."
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