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Two North Carolina women who were arrested by federal immigration agents for honking their car horn to alert others to the officers’ presence are suing the government for $2.5 million, according to a court filing.
The incident occurred on November 17, 2025 when federal forces surged into Charlotte to round-up suspected undocumented migrants as part of “Operation Charlotte’s Web,” itself part of the Trump administration’s wider crackdown on illegal immigration.
According to the 17-page complaint filed on behalf of Tatyana Reisini and Kristen Roos – both U.S. citizens and described as “close friends since graduate school” – the pair had intended to attend a local Christmas show that day. Instead, they “went out to witness and document the immigration agents’ behavior, and they were unlawfully retaliated against for it.”
Reisini and Roos say they had “noticed a dirty car with an out-of-state license plate driving next to them” in East Charlotte and assumed, correctly, that it was transporting immigration agents.
They followed the car in Reisini’s own vehicle, a 2019 Acura MDX, for “several minutes,” according to the complaint, before it came to a stop in a parking lot, at which point other drivers began making noise to raise awareness of their arrival, prompting Reisini to honk her horn and Roos to blow a whistle.
Customs and Border Protection agents responded by recording the protest and boxing in Reisini’s car using their own and a second one that had just arrived.
“Panicked, both women locked their car doors and rolled up their windows,” the filing recounts. “Agents got out of their cars, approached [Reisini's] car, and began yelling at both women.”
The duo were “terrified by the behavior of these uniformed, masked, and armed” individuals,” so Reisini “maneuvered her car away from the scene,” it continues.
The CBP agents followed them, with the women putting in a call to 911 seeking advice as they drove, before turning into a dead-end street, forcing them to park in a stranger’s driveway.
The agents then left their vehicle and “swarmed” the car, with one pointing his assault rifle at the driver’s side window and “pounding” on it with the tip of the weapon until it eventually shattered, sending shards of glass flying, while the rest of the group screamed at the occupants.
Footage of the encounter was recorded by neighbors and bystanders and on the house in question’s Ring doorbell camera.
Reisini and Roos were led away with their hands zip-tied behind their backs, with one agent allegedly saying, after spotting a baby seat in the back: “You’re a stellar mom.”
The women then spent four hours at a local FBI building, were charged with assaulting federal agents and dropped off at a nearby Waffle House.
The charges against them were subsequently dropped in March by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina.
Reisini and Roos’ lawsuit accuses the federal government of false imprisonment and false arrest, assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, malicious prosecution and negligence, as well as alleged violations of their First and Fourth Amendment rights.
They are seeking $1.25 million in damages each, their attorneys’ fees and costs and “other and further relief as may be just, proper, and equitable.”
Jake Sussman, chief counsel with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, told WBTV his clients had endured “a nightmare” and “a really traumatic event” at the hands of the agents responsible.
The Department for Homeland Security has been contacted for comment.
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