(NORTH CAROLINA) — Civil rights groups filed a class action lawsuit on February 24, 2026, accusing Department of Homeland Security agents of carrying out warrantless immigration arrests in North Carolina that swept up and detained U.S. citizens without probable cause during “Operation Charlotte’s Web.”
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, seeks a court declaration that the challenged practices are unlawful and a permanent injunction blocking them.
ACLU of North Carolina, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, and Democracy Forward brought the case on behalf of five named plaintiffs who the suit says were subjected to stops, detention and questioning during the November 2025 operation across Charlotte, Durham, Raleigh and other areas.
Four of the plaintiffs are U.S. citizens, the lawsuit says, and were still detained or questioned in encounters the complaint describes as lacking individualized probable cause.
Willy Wender Aceituno, 46, appears first in the complaint’s accounts. The suit describes him as a naturalized U.S. citizen who agents stopped twice on November 15, 2025, in a Charlotte parking lot.
Agents verified Aceituno’s Real ID proving citizenship, the lawsuit says, but then shattered his truck window, dragged him out, handcuffed him and detained him in an unmarked vehicle before releasing him.
Another named plaintiff, identified as Cuenca, is also a U.S. citizen, the complaint says. The lawsuit alleges agents detained him without a warrant or explanation, drove him around for 20-30 minutes, questioned him about his driver’s license, threatened him regarding his brothers, and dropped him on the roadside after confirming his citizenship.
A third incident centers on the Arguera Lopez brothers, described in the complaint as U.S. citizens with U-Visa status. The lawsuit alleges they endured 15 minutes of force and intimidation by agents who did not present warrants or identification before releasing them, and it says video of the encounter circulated widely on social media.
The lawsuit ties the incidents to a broader enforcement effort it says involved over 425 arrests by hundreds of Border Patrol agents. The complaint argues that DHS personnel, including ICE and CBP, used tactics that prioritized detention before justification.
Federal law, as codified in DHS policy and summarized in the complaint, permits warrantless immigration arrests only when agents have individualized probable cause that a person is removable from the United States and poses a flight risk, including a likelihood the person could escape before a warrant is obtained.
Plaintiffs argue the operation departed from that standard by using what the complaint calls “detain-first, justify-later” tactics, including what it describes as extreme force and coercive conduct such as breaking windows and ignoring proof of citizenship.
The suit also points to other jurisdictions where similar enforcement practices have faced court challenges, arguing the North Carolina operation mirrored approaches that courts elsewhere have blocked.
Beyond the named plaintiffs, the proposed class seeks to cover people subjected to what the complaint characterizes as similar warrantless arrests and detentions during the operation, spanning multiple metropolitan areas in the state.
The complaint names five plaintiffs: Willy Wender Aceituno, Cuenca, Arguera Lopez, Godinez, and Napoles. It describes a geographic footprint that includes Charlotte, Durham, Raleigh and other areas, and it frames the incidents as part of a single coordinated operation.
In describing Aceituno’s stop, the complaint alleges agents had already confirmed his citizenship through his Real ID before escalating the encounter. The lawsuit portrays the decision to break the truck window, pull him out and restrain him as an example of force used without the individualized legal basis the policy requires.
Cuenca’s account, as laid out in the complaint, centers on an alleged detention without a warrant and without an explanation at the outset. The lawsuit says agents questioned him about his driver’s license and threatened him regarding his brothers before confirming he was a U.S. citizen and letting him go on the roadside.
The Arguera Lopez brothers’ allegations, the complaint says, include force and intimidation and the absence of warrants or agent identification. The lawsuit adds that video of the encounter spread widely online, making the incident a public example of the operation’s tactics.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers argue that the legal line governing warrantless immigration arrests requires more than generalized suspicion or broad operational goals. The complaint’s theory is that individualized probable cause must connect to removability, and that agents must also have a flight-risk rationale tied to the need to act without first obtaining a warrant.
The lawsuit argues the operation flipped that order, detaining people first and then seeking to justify the stop afterward. It casts the alleged treatment of U.S. citizens as evidence that agents, in the plaintiffs’ view, failed to apply the individualized analysis DHS policy demands.
Defendants include DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, ICE acting Director Todd Lyons, and leaders of CBP and the U.S. Border Patrol, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit cites a recent memo by Lyons that it says expanded the definition of “escape risk” to include those “unlikely to remain on scene,” and plaintiffs argue that concept helped drive stops and detentions that did not meet the legal threshold for warrantless arrests.
Administration officials deny violations, the suit’s supporters said. DHS had not responded to inquiries as of February 25, 2026, according to the information provided with the complaint.
Kristi Graunke, ACLU of North Carolina Legal Director, said agents must follow strict rules against extreme force. Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward, called the actions “lawlessness,” and said Congress requires individualized probable cause.
Lucia Goin, ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project staff attorney, described what she said was a pattern of rights violations. Corina Scott, ACLU of North Carolina staff attorney, called for accountability to stop what she said was abuse in communities.
The case now moves into the early stages typical of class actions seeking injunctive relief, including service and appearances by government counsel and the likelihood of threshold motions such as efforts to dismiss claims.
Plaintiffs also face the procedural steps required to seek class certification, including briefing over whether the five named plaintiffs can represent a broader group across the regions described in the complaint, while pursuing their request for a permanent injunction against the practices they challenge.
Perryman said the operation amounted to “lawlessness,” arguing the standards for warrantless immigration arrests require individualized probable cause even in large-scale enforcement actions.
Operation Charlotte’s Web Snags U.S. Citizens in Warrantless Immigration Raids
Civil rights organizations have sued DHS, alleging that ‘Operation Charlotte’s Web’ in North Carolina involved illegal warrantless arrests. The class action lawsuit highlights cases where U.S. citizens were subjected to force and detention without individualized probable cause. Seeking a permanent injunction, the plaintiffs argue that the ‘detain-first, justify-later’ approach violates federal law and DHS policy, which requires specific evidence of removability and flight risk before making an arrest without a warrant.
