NC teen, an American citizen, fighting Trump administration over arrest in Cary immigration raid

Fernando Vazquez Orea, an 18-year-old U.S. citizen born in Raleigh, was pinned against a gate and handcuffed by immigration agents at his landscaping job during a November 18, 2025 raid in Cary, N.C., despite showing his North Carolina Real ID, according to WRAL. After agents confirmed his citizenship, he alleges they threw away his wallet and abandoned him in the woods, injured and frightened. Represented by the ACLU of North Carolina, Vazquez filed a Federal Tort Claims Act damages claim alleging racial profiling and wrongful arrest; DHS called the profiling allegations “categorically FALSE” but did not address how a U.S. citizen came to be arrested.