ICE agents stopped and arrested F.R.P. in a Walmart parking lot in Cheektowaga, New York; his wife was arrested in the same incident
On January 24, 2026, ICE agents stopped a man identified in court filings as F.R.P. in a Walmart parking lot in Cheektowaga, New York, arresting and detaining him without a judicial warrant for 25 days. His wife was arrested in the same incident. His arrest is one of eight named in the April 2026 class-action lawsuit Benitez v. DHS, which alleges ICE and CBP agents have conducted a systematic pattern of warrantless stops and arrests of Latino residents across New York based on race and ethnicity.
Actors
On January 24, 2026, ICE agents stopped a man identified in court filings as F.R.P. in a Walmart parking lot in Cheektowaga, New York. The agents arrested and detained him without a judicial warrant. His wife was arrested in the same incident. F.R.P. was held for 25 days before being released.
His arrest is one of eight documented stops described in the complaint filed April 8, 2026, in the class action Benitez v. DHS, brought by Legal Aid Society, the New York Civil Liberties Union, Make the Road New York, and Covington & Burling LLP. The suit alleges that ICE and CBP agents have carried out a systematic pattern of warrantless stops and arrests of Latino residents across New York City and Long Island, relying on apparent race and ethnicity as the basis for stops in violation of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments.
Updates
2026-04-08 — Benitez v. DHS filed in EDNY naming this arrest among eight documented instances [1, 2]
Legal Aid Society, the New York Civil Liberties Union, Make the Road New York, and Covington & Burling LLP filed the class action Benitez v. DHS (2:26-cv-02082) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The complaint documented this arrest alongside seven others as evidence of a systematic pattern of warrantless ICE and CBP stops and arrests targeting Latino residents across New York City and Long Island based on race and ethnicity.
Why we recorded this
ICE agents stopped a man identified as F.R.P. in a Walmart parking lot in Cheektowaga, New York, with no documented criminal suspicion, then arrested and detained him for 25 days without a judicial warrant. His wife was arrested in the same incident. A commercial parking lot is a public civilian space; stops in that context based on apparent ethnicity without articulable suspicion violate the Fourth Amendment. This entry records a documented warrantless stop and extended detention by federal immigration agents.
Sources
- Legal Aid, NYCLU, Make the Road NY, and Covington & Burling LLP File Class Action Lawsuit Against DHS for Unlawful Stops, Warrantless Immigration Arrests, and Racial Profiling of New Yorkers — Legal Aid Society / NYCLU primary accessed July 26, 2026
- New Lawsuit Accuses ICE of Racially Profiling New Yorkers During Immigration Arrests — The City investigative accessed July 26, 2026
See also
- ICE agents stopped and arrested Hesler Asaf Garcia Lanza while he was walking to the LIRR in Hempstead, New York
- ICE agents detained Hempstead man with valid immigration status for 2 days after warrantless arrest near LIRR
- ICE agents stopped and arrested Darwin Garcia Medrano and his 16-year-old brother at a gas station in Brentwood, New York
- ICE agents stopped and arrested R.C.R. in a Walmart parking lot in Cheektowaga, New York; her husband was arrested in the same incident
- DHS immigration agents arrested F.R.P. and his wife without a warrant in a Cheektowaga Walmart parking lot, complaint alleges
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