Five named plaintiffs, represented by the ACLU of North Carolina, the ACLU, Democracy Forward, and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, filed a class-action lawsuit on May 22, 2026, against the Department of Homeland Security and its component agencies, alleging a pattern of warrantless immigration arrests across North Carolina [1]. The complaint names DHS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and U.S. Border Patrol as defendants [1]. The lead plaintiff is Willy Wender Aceituno [1].
The complaint alleges that armed and masked federal agents conducted arrests in Charlotte, Durham, Raleigh, and other North Carolina communities without judicial warrants or individualized legal justification [1]. The Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and generally requires a warrant supported by probable cause before a person may be arrested, unless a recognized exception applies. The plaintiffs contend that the operations at issue satisfy no such exception and that the arrests were indiscriminate, sweeping in individuals without particularized suspicion [1].
The filing seeks class-action certification on behalf of all individuals in North Carolina subjected to, or at imminent risk of, the alleged warrantless arrest practices [1]. Plaintiffs ask the federal court to enjoin the named agencies from continuing those operations statewide. The case is captioned Aceituno et al. v. DHS and represents one of the broader legal challenges to immigration enforcement tactics deployed under the current administration [1]. The coalition of plaintiff-side organizations spans national civil liberties advocacy, federal litigation strategy, and regional civil rights capacity, signaling a coordinated, resource-intensive effort.
If the court grants a preliminary injunction, enforcement operations fitting the alleged pattern across North Carolina would pause while the merits are litigated. The government is expected to contest class certification and argue that existing statutory authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act permits warrantless arrests where an officer has reason to believe an individual is unlawfully present and likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained. How the court weighs that statutory carve-out against the Fourth Amendment claims will shape the case's trajectory and its potential precedential reach beyond North Carolina [1].