A second consecutive day of masked federal Border Patrol agents in the Charlotte area Sunday led to more arrests and community concern around the region, with no indication when the government activity will end.
That also was the scene here Saturday, the first day that agents took people from public places while protesters marched in uptown, some businesses closed and activists worked to document what was happening.
Early Sunday, Greg Bovino, the Border Patrol official leading the operation in Charlotte and other cities, said on X that Border Patrol agents arrested 81 people in the Charlotte area over five hours Saturday. He said many of those taken in “had significant criminal and immigration history,” although it was not immediately possible to independently verify that assessment.
One advocacy group, Siembra NC, decried the government’s actions as “a day of shame,” and said more immigrants were arrested Saturday in the Charlotte area than any other day in state history.
Border Patrol agents seen arresting a man in southeast Charlotte on Sharonbrook Drive who was walking back to his home Sunday morning, Nov. 16, 2025. KHADEJEH NIKOUYEH knikouyeh@charlotteobserver.com
A protest was called for Sunday night at 7 at the Department of Homeland Security office on Tyvola Center Drive. Organizers encouraged people to bring noisemakers, banners and signs, and demand that people who have been detained in the past two days be released.
The department has said it was “surging resources” to North Carolina for “Operation Charlotte’s Web” but did not say where people were being taken after they were arrested, or whether family has access to them.
In one case, protesters at a DHS facility initially were transferred to the FBI’s custody, according to the attorney representing them. Here’s what else happened Sunday.
NC governor criticizes actions of Border Patrol in Charlotte
Gov. Josh Stein posted a video to social media Sunday evening criticizing Border Patrol’s weekend actions in Charlotte. “To the CBP: If you know that we have violent criminals in Charlotte who are undocumented, we want them out too,” Stein said. “But the actions of too many federal agents are doing the exact opposite in Charlotte.
“We’ve seen masked, heavily armed agents in paramilitary garb driving unmarked cars, targeting American citizens based on their skin color, racially profiling and picking up random people in parking lots and off of our sidewalks,” Stein said. “Going after landscapers simply decorating a Christmas tree in someone’s front yard. And entering churches and stores to grab people.”
He said such actions are not making the community safer. “It’s stoking fear and dividing our community.”
The Democrat thanked protesters for remaining peaceful and encouraged Charlotte residents to keep documenting Border Patrol’s behavior when safe to do so. “That’s what we can do for our neighbors to keep each other safe,” he said, adding that “public safety is our top priority.”
Loud whistles mark Sunday night Border Patrol protest in Charlotte
There were over 30 protesters outside the Homeland Security office on Tyvola Road, with a number shouting at Federal Protection Service Police who stood nearby, blocking the entrance.
One protester, dressed in a frog costume, said it was done to mirror similar things protesters did in Portland, Oregon, and to show the officers they’re peaceful like the Portland protesters.
A protester wears a frog costume during a protest against the presence of Border Patrol at the Homeland Security/ICE headquarters on Tyvola Center Drive in Charlotte on Sunday. Khadejeh Nikouyeh The Charlotte Observer
“I’m just trying to make sure everyone in the country knows that we are not violent people,” said Bradley W., who was covered head-to-toe in a frog costume. “We are here to make sure that we stand up for our communities. The good people in our communities that do not need to be obstructed from the justice that they deserve.”
The whistles were quite loud, with one protester saying the whistles were a reference to other cities, like Washington, D.C. and Chicago, where protesters used them to alert neighbors when ICE was in the area
“No fear, no hate, we want ICE out of our state,” protesters chanted. They called for the release of protesters who were recently arrested in Charlotte.
Protesters stood in the driveway of the office as federal officers began pushing people toward the sidewalk again.
As of 8:30 p.m., the protesting group continued to grow and a green alien joined the frog in the chanting.
Officers stand outside the Department of Homeland Security/ICE headquarters on Tyvola Center Drive as protestors gather to voice their concern over the presence of Border Patrol in Charlotte, NC on Sunday, November 16, 2025. Khadejeh Nikouyeh The Charlotte Observer
Man gets medical attention after Border Patrol pursuit in Charlotte
One case that attracted a lot of attention in Charlotte and online revolved around a man who received medical treatment after he appeared to collapse while Border Patrol agents attempted to detain him on Milton Road near Weeping Willow AME Zion Church, said a neighbor who saw the interaction.
Raquel, who declined to provide her last name out of concern for her safety, said she saw the interaction between agents and the man in front of the church. She said agents pursued him in their vehicles from nearby Dany’s Supermarket, where the Charlotte Observer reported two men were arrested earlier in the day.
Raquel said agents attempted to pull him out of his car and he fell to the ground. They screamed at him to get out after opening his door, she said.
Social media rumors erupted about the incident, but Raquel said the man appeared to be alive and moving — just in shock. She said two agents went into the ambulance with the man. His condition could not immediately be ascertained.
A witness said a man was injured after fleeing from Border Patrol agents on Milton Road in Charlotte, NC on Sunday, November 16, 2025. submitted
Border Patrol detains more people in Charlotte Sunday
Just before 9 a.m. off of South Boulevard, two white SUVs stopped a man in a Panthers hat while he was walking home, his roommate said. Masked men wearing U.S. Border Patrol vests questioned the man for 30 minutes before taking him away in handcuffs, according to the roommate, who asked not to be named out of concern for their safety.
An agent, who told the Observer his name was Charlie 47, said the man had “illegal status in the United States,” was being taken to a dentition facility and that his family would be notified. The agent also told Charlotte Observer staffers not to follow him and his team.
The roommate said he feels fearful.
“It’s terrifying to know they’re approaching even your house now,” he said in Spanish.
Border Patrol agents seen arresting a man in southeast Charlotte on Sharonbrook Drive who was walking back to his home Sunday morning, Nov. 16, 2025. KHADEJEH NIKOUYEH knikouyeh@charlotteobserver.com
Two protesters taken to FBI office
Attorney Xavier T. de Janon said two people who participated in a protest at the DHS office on Tyvola Centre Drive Sunday morning were detained and taken to an FBI office in the city on Sunday.
It’s unclear what, if any, charges they are facing, said the attorney, who is representing them. “I got in my car, went to the (DHS and ICE) facility and the ICE agents informed me that they have been transferred to the FBI.”
He then went to the FBI office. “I was able to confirm that they were there, but it’s still unclear what’s going to happen with them next,” de Janon said.
Later in the afternoon, the attorney said in he learned that one of his clients is going to be transferred to Gaston County jail and another dropped off at a public park. He did not have additional information.
FBI spokeswoman Shelley Lynch referred the Observer to Customs and Border Protection. The Observer has reached out to that agency as well.
Catholic Diocese ‘not aware’ of any incidents at churches
The Catholic Diocese of Charlotte is “not aware of any incidents” with Border Patrol at its churches Sunday, spokeswoman Liz Chandler told the Observer.
“Our priests are providing pastoral care in this time of concern,” Chandler said, noting about half of the 565,000 Catholics living in the Diocese of Charlotte are Hispanic.
In a Nov. 12 message, Bishop Michael Martin encouraged congregants to “not be paralyzed by fear, especially as you celebrate your faith in our churches.”
“To those immigrants regardless of your status here in western North Carolina, know that the Roman Catholic Church values who you are as children of God and stands with you … Trust that God walks with you, as do we during this time of uncertainty,” he said.
Arrests continue at local market
Supermarkets and grocery stores — particularly those that carry food and ingredients from other countries — have been a frequent target of Border Patrol agents this weekend.
On Sunday, two men were arrested in the parking lot of Dany’s Supermarket off The Plaza after they tried using an ATM there, bystanders told the Observer. An Observer reporter saw agents arrest one of the men and put him in the back of a black Ford Expedition.
Husband and wife Grover and Mary Ann Stinson said agents approached the men as they were using a Wells Fargo ATM, spoke to them briefly and got some form of identification from them. Then, they arrested them.
“They were behaving. They weren’t doing anything,” Grover Stinson said.
Border Patrol arrested two people at the ATM in Charlotte Sunday morning, November 16, 2025 Ryan Oehrli roehrli@charlotteobserver.com
Agents return to site of Super G Mart arrests
Border Patrol agents also drove by the Super G Mart in Pineville, the same place where they pinned down and arrested a teenager Saturday.
Peter Han’s family has owned Super G for 15 years. He took video of a teen employee who was pushing carts back to the store being thrown down and detained by Border Patrol as Border Patrol boss Bovino stood by.
On Sunday, more than half of Han’s employees called out of work. In the morning, agents drove by in unmarked Tahoes and Suburbans with Illinois, Texas and Washington license plates, but didn’t arrest anyone.
“Even though I knew my rights,” Han said, when agents with guns and masks stormed into his store “I still felt helpless.”
A Border Patrol agents on Sharonbrook Drive in Charlotte, NC on Sunday morning. At 9 a.m. Sunday, Border Patrol officials said on X they had “taken off the streets” 81 people in five hours, apparently a reference to Saturday activities. KHADEJEH NIKOUYEH knikouyeh@charlotteobserver.com
Documenting Border Patrol activity in Pineville
Bruce Moody, a resident of Fort Mill, South Carolina, and a member of Indivisible Charlotte drove around the Super G and a nearby Home Depot to see if he could help document any additional CBP actions.
“We are trying to document what people have seen,” Moody said.
Bruce Moody documented an arrest at Home Depot on Woodlawn. A man was sitting under a streetlight, alone, when two cars and about six agents pulled up. Moody, 71, is retired and volunteering with multiple organizations, alerting them when he sees an arrest and documenting the arrests. Julia Coin jcoin@charlotteobserver.com
Vanessa Blancas and her sister Daisy went with their father to Super G, but were wary about Border Patrol after Saturday’s incident. Blancas, born in the United States but of Mexican heritage, said when they arrived they were “looking for immigration cars.”
“I wanted to make sure nothing was going to happen,“ Vanessa said “I’m always going to be on the lookout.”
Daisy Blancas, also born in the United States, said the family received an alert Sunday not to attend church as they often do because of the concerns over Border Patrol activities. “We were paranoid,” she said.
The family read the signs on the doors and windows of the front of Super G that said ICE was not welcome there, and felt heartened by that.
Chicago-area mayor advice for Charlotte
The mayor of a Chicago-area community, where Border Patrol controversially detained people for weeks before coming to Charlotte, encouraged local action in the wake of the operations.
In an opinion piece submitted to the Observer, Evanston, Illinois, Mayor Daniel Biss accused Border Patrol of “deliberately” causing a traffic collision in his town “as an act of retribution against a driver who was following him” and “beating people up.”
Biss said his town established “ICE-free zones,” “blocked city data from being used for civil immigration enforcement and terminated our relationship with a license plate reader vendor that shared data with federal agencies.” He encouraged Charlotte to take similar steps.
More reaction to Border Patrol in Charlotte
The ACLU of North Carolina also condemned Border Patrol’s actions in Charlotte in a Sunday statement, saying “there is no emergency in Charlotte that justifies the deployment of federal immigration forces.”
Border Patrol’s actions also sparked the closure of many businesses in corridors targeted by the agents over the weekend.
Reaction from local and state leaders was largely split along party lines, with Democrats saying Border Patrol is causing unnecessary fear and Republicans saying they’re needed in Charlotte to address public safety concerns.
Charlotte Observer reporters Julia Coin, Jeff Chamer and Ryan Oehrli, and Rock Hill Herald reporter Andrew Dys, contributed to this story
This story was originally published November 16, 2025 at 8:08 AM.
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