An Illinois gas station clerk threatened a group of Latina customers that “ICE will come,” was fired two days after the video went viral, the store’s owner said.
President Donald Trump is not the only person who tells people to “go back” to their countries. But for one gas station clerk in Naperville, Illinois, an affluent suburb 30 miles west of Chicago, the taunt cost him his job.
The video was shared on Facebook, a clerk standing behind the payment counter is heard telling two women about what he suspected were undocumented people.
“I’m an American,” he tells them, pointing at his chest.
“And?” one of the women responds. “What is your problem?”
“It’s illegal,” he responds.
“Are you a citizen?” he asks.
“Yes,” a woman replies.
“Don’t you know the rules?” he responds. “They need to go back to their country. It’s illegal.”
“You be quiet,” a woman says.
“You’ll be sorry,” he replies. “ICE will come.”
As the women walk away, the man is heard saying, “Bye. God bless you. You have the wrong country.”
Bucky’s Convenience Stores confirmed that the employee has been fired and was no longer working with the company, calling his behavior “inappropriate.”
“He is no longer employed by us,” the company said in the statement. “We do not tolerate any behavior that is insensitive to our valued customers. Bucky’s Convenience Stores is a very diverse and inclusive company that believes in treating all individuals with the utmost respect.”
Carolina Buitron told NBC Chicago that she and her family, some of whom were visiting from Mexico, stopped at the station for snacks. Buitron said she and her family were speaking Spanish when the cashier told them to leave because they were “illegals.”
“He started asking about my cousins, if they were illegal, family or friends, are they adopted,” she told the station.
Buitron did not respond to BuzzFeed News request for comment.
More than 500,000 people have viewed the video since it was posted Tuesday, and some people protest at the Naperville station.
Officials in Naperville condemned the treatment of the women.
“Let me be abundantly clear: hate has no home here in Naperville,” Mayor Steve Chirico said in a statement posted on Facebook. “Quite frankly, this type of behavior has no place in society at large.”
The clerk in the video is Joseph Phillip Daniel, a Trump supporter who describes himself on social media as a “prophet,” and he shares his videos of reciting prayers in the middle of natural landscapes.
In one of his videos, Daniel stood in front of the Washington offices of Ocasio-Cortez and said, “All the demons in this office are powerless against you, Father God, and your appointed leader, Donald J. Trump.”