Among the most publicized incidents involving the immigration crackdown in North Carolina was the arrest of asylum seeker David Cárdenas Centeno when he visited Charlotte’s Department of Homeland Security office for an annual check-in on Dec. 4.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials sent Centeno to an undisclosed detention site, then he suffered a medical emergency and was taken to Atrium Health’s hospital in Pineville, a south Charlotte suburb.

Family members and Centeno’s partner were unable to get information about him or his medical condition from ICE or Atrium, according to Susan Rodriguez-McDowell, a Mecklenburg County Commission member. She received information about the matter from Siembra NC, a nonprofit group that has emerged as a leading advocate for immigrants during the recent crackdown by ICE and the Customs and Border Protection agency.

To raise awareness of Centeno’s case, McDowell and several other Charlotte-area pastors and elected officials scheduled a press conference at Atrium Hospital Pineville, where Centeno was believed to have been admitted. Hospital officials declined to provide information about his status, she says.

Shortly before the press conference was supposed to start, the group was informed that ICE was releasing Centeno from custody. Siembra NC urged the officials to cancel the press conference, McDowell says.

Centeno would remain on “alternative detention” such as an ankle monitor, an ICE spokesperson told the Charlotte Observer in a Dec. 12 story.

This week, Centeno underwent open-heart surgery at Duke University Hospital in Durham and is in stable condition, Andrew Willis Garces, who is a senior strategist for Sieimbra NC in Greensboro, said on Tuesday.

“The family was so desperate, but we were able to get attention to his case,” Willis Garces says. “David had a life-threatening condition, and the doctors at Duke struggled to help stabilize him so that he could undergo a major surgery.”

Centeno’s partner told the Observer that he entered the United States years ago and was deported more than a decade ago. (Cardenas says it was 2013, in a different media report.) The couple then met in Nicaragua, where they had three children and ran a jewelry and clothing business, the newspaper said.

The couple fled in 2022 after the Nicaraguan government closed their business. They then sought asylum after entering the U.S., the newspaper said. The couple said they have working permits and social security numbers and no criminal record.

In November, the Department of Homeland Security halted asylum decisions following the shooting of two National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C.

ICE has doubled its North Carolina arrests in 2025 from the previous year, totaling 3,400 arrests through Oct. 15, WUNC reports. More recently, federal officials say more than 400 people in North Carolina have been arrested related to the Trump administration’s effort to remove immigrants lacking legal status.

Last week, ICE sent this statement to Durham TV station ABC11 about the matter: “David Cruz-Cardenas does not have lawful immigration status and was taken into custody. Shortly after his arrest, he complained of chest pains and was transported to the hospital, where he was subsequently admitted. During his hospitalization, Mr. Cruz-Cardenas was guarded by Enforcement and Removal Operations officers and his communication with the outside world was limited due to security precautions. Cruz-Cardenas was released on Alternatives to Detention and will continue with his immigration proceedings.”

David Mildenberg is editor of Business North Carolina. Reach him at dmildenberg@businessnc.com.