‘Felt helpless’: Unease lingers after Border Patrol arrest at Pineville Super G
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Border Patrol in Charlotte
U.S. Border Patrol began making rounds in Charlotte on Saturday morning.
This follows recent Border Patrol activity in Chicago that made headlines, with some reports alleging agents violated people’s rights.
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Staff and patrons of an international supermarket in the Charlotte area braced Sunday to see Border Patrol again after agents pinned down and arrested an employee at the store Saturday.
Peter Han’s family has owned Super G Mart for 15 years. He took video Saturday of the employee who was pushing carts back to the store being thrown down and detained by Border Patrol as Border Patrol leader Greg Bovino stood by. On Monday, Han said the employee was in his 20s.
Agents, led by Bovino like they were during weeks of controversial operations in Chicago, began detaining people around the Charlotte area this weekend, triggering protests and business closures. Federal officials haven’t said how long they’ll remain in North Carolina.
Bovino said on social media Sunday morning Border Portal arrested 81 people in five hours Saturday.
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.
Agents didn’t arrest anyone Sunday morning. They rolled down their windows, “grinning” — it was “the same grin they had when they pinned (him) to the ground,” Han said.
“Even though I knew my rights,” Han said, when agents with guns and masks stormed into his store “I still felt helpless.”
Indivisible Charlotte documenting Border Patrol
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 Sunday morning to see if he could help document any additional CBP actions.
“We are trying to document what people have seen,” Moody said.
Vanessa Blancas and her sister Daisy went with their father to Super G Sunday but were wary about Border Patrol after Saturday’s incident. The 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 said the family received an alert Sunday not to attend church as they often do because of the concerns over CBP 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 were heartened by that.
Correction: On Monday, the store manager said the employee is in his 20s. On Saturday, the manager said he was around 15 or 16. This story has been updated.
This story was originally published November 16, 2025 at 11:49 AM.
