Residents in Charlotte, North Carolina held protests after U.S. Border Patrol carried out sweeping immigration raids over the weekend, detaining more than 130 people. Demonstrators gathered outside Manolo’s Bakery, where owner Manolo Betancur temporarily closed the shop after witnessing a raid at his doorstep.
Betancur described the emotional toll on families, saying children were separated from parents and birthday celebrations ruined as federal agents intensified their crackdown under President Donald Trump’s national deportation campaign. Several Latino-owned businesses shut down amid fear within the community.
The raids have sparked widespread concern in Charlotte, one of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S., as residents demand accountability and humane enforcement practices.
00:41I feel it's important that we're out here, not sitting at home, on our butts, quiet about what's going on.
00:49If you're not seeing something and saying something, you're complicit. I do not want to be complicit.
00:55What's going on here is illegal, it's warrantless, and people are getting picked up without proper identification, without warrants.
01:03And that is wrong. It doesn't matter who you are. That is wrong.
01:07We need to support our immigrants. We love our immigrants here in Charlotte.
01:11Music
01:21Well, I'm here to protest the protesters, because I love America. And I have people that died for this country. And I'm a veteran. And I want everybody here to be paying taxes and to live free and do what they want. But I also want them to be legal. And I don't want people here illegally.
01:39Music
01:57Uh, Friday, Friday is Charlotte became a ghost town. And this is the most diverse side of town. So I started driving around and I wrote a post. We, no one is coming. So please, Americans support us. And a lot, a lot of Americans came on Friday.
02:17But then on Saturday, I was walking through the avenue. And I started seeing how these unmarked cars, we started driving next to pedestrians. And then from nowhere, you know, people jumped from those cars with their face covered. And threw the people to the floor, handcuffs, and put them inside the cars.
02:43So that's when I realized. They are here. They are attacking us. And even though I'm carrying my American passport and an American citizen, I felt that this is no longer enough.
03:01Then I've been profiling because of my skin color, my race, and my accent. So it was a very, a moment of fear. Even though I have been in Ukraine, I've been part of the military forces of Colombia. I know the war. I have seen the war. What I saw, it was terror. And it was very scary.
03:21Well, just as soon as I saw that, the amount of aggressivity and inhumanity, I called the bakery and said, shut the doors, lock the doors, shut the lights, shut the lights, shut the lights, shut the lights, shut the lights, shut the lights, shut the lights, shut the lights.
03:49Shut the doors, shut the lights?
03:56And then a lot, like you say outside, a lot of people started coming and coming and coming. And an army of angels and an army of good people came here to stay in my parking lot.
04:12and I send everybody home and I shut the doors.
04:14First time in 28 years, 28 years, almost 30 years.
04:18First time ever that I close the doors of this bakery.
04:37And the main reason why I close the doors is
04:41children are losing their fathers
04:43and children are losing their mothers.
04:46And in fear of maybe some of those parents,
04:49they were on their way here to the bakery
04:51to get their birthday cake.
04:52Saturdays is the biggest day for any birthdays.
04:56And so many, many children,
04:59they didn't get that birthday cake,
05:01they didn't get their father,
05:03they didn't get to see their father back that day at home.
05:06So I talk about those children,
05:08I talk about my children,
05:09and I talk about what about if my son is walking,
05:12he's a teenager, 16 years old,
05:15and these guys just threw them to the floor.
05:17How I would react?
05:18What would happen to my son?
05:21What about if that happened to my wife?
05:23And then what about my customers?
05:26What about my employees, their families?
05:29So it's a huge fear.
05:31And he said, it's not worth it.
05:33You know, I'd rather lose money,
05:36even lose my business,
05:38but I'm not going to lose my peace of mind
05:42and I'm doing the right thing for humanity.
05:44We can have safe borders and safe families.
06:05Families belong together.
06:07Nobody wants criminals.
06:08I don't want criminals.
06:09And I want a safe border.
06:11But all our people who have been here,
06:14they need a path for an immigration reform.
06:20That's what I meant.
06:28If there is hate in your heart,
06:29start looking inside.
06:30You see, you believe in Jesus.
06:32Jesus was the first immigrant ever, you know?
06:35So there is a way to do it and work on this.
06:37When this inhumanity, this cruelty,
06:41and this pain has to stop.
06:43We don't need this darkness in this nation.
06:45It's too cold, it's too dark.
06:49And this country is beautiful alive.
06:51You know, it's an opportunity
06:53and it was a nation funded by immigrants.
06:56That's what I really want to say to everybody.
07:07I'm here to represent all the people who can't,
07:13who don't have a voice, or can't come out here.
07:16My husband's Hispanic, my kids are Hispanic,
07:19so I'm here for them and everybody else.
07:29It's important for me to be here today
07:31because someone has to have a voice
07:33for the people that can't.
07:34And as a social worker, I have an ethic duty.
07:37But as outside of that,
07:38I have a duty as a human being to protect my neighbors.
07:41America is built on immigrants
07:42and that's the way it should stay.
07:44To speak out against Nazism and fascism.
07:49This is America.
07:50We believe in due process.
07:51We believe in the rights of people.
07:52We are not headed in a good direction.
07:54We are not headed in a good direction.
07:56Come on, you are.
07:56Let's speak out against Nazism and fascism.
08:01This is America, we believe in due process.
08:03You believe in the rights of people.
08:05We are not headed in a good direction.
08:06We are not headed in a good direction.
08:08We believe in the rights of people.
08:11We're not headed in a good direction.
08:25It's important for me to be here today to stand in the gaps for the immigrants,
08:30people who help run this community, people who help build the community,
08:34and people who stand with us whenever we're going through time.
08:38So it's important for me to be out here to support the east side of Charlotte as well,
08:42because this is my home.
08:44And we're going to stand out here and we're going to stand in the gaps for them, for sure.
08:59Here in Charlotte, when we received information that CBP, Open Border Patrol, was here,
09:03it's had a definite impact in our community.
09:07Many immigrants, even those who are lawful permanent residents
09:11or even those that have work permits, have fear, legitimate fear.
09:15And they want to stay home because they don't want to be accosted.
09:19There are serious questions as to the methodology being used by Border Patrol
09:24in terms of how they're identifying people who they want to apprehend.
09:29There are serious questions as to whether or not this is done is based on appearances,
09:35engaging in profiling, or if this is based on specific information that immigration already has.
09:42In my personal experience and in my practice, I have seen immigration in the last few months
09:47go after people who have prior orders of removals.
09:50And so that's what's happening.
09:52People are afraid.
09:54Businesses are shut.
09:56People are staying home or staying put until things change.
10:00I have not seen anything like this.
10:10This is unprecedented in the Charlotte community where we see widespread enforcement.
10:17And again, usually what we've seen here historically has been specific targets,
10:26immigration proceeding.
10:27They know that someone's going to be there.
10:28Maybe they're leaving at court or maybe they're leaving home.
10:32This appears to be something very different.
10:35And I think I speak on behalf of a lot of people who share the sentiment.
10:39This has put more fear in the immigrant community than anything I've seen in the last 15 years.
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