Gabriel Rencher‘s first two days in Arizona did not go well.

The 32-year-old native of Eugene, Oregon, moved to Tucson on Christmas Eve. A fan of the “beautiful romanticism of the Southwest,” Rencher decided to make a day trip to Sonoyta, Mexico, on Christmas Day.

After eating lunch, strolling around Sonoyta, and trying out his smattering of Spanish, Rencher crossed back into Arizona, where he picked up his car and headed back to Tucson.

As he drove north on Arizona 85 toward Ajo, he saw a man hitchhiking on the side of the road and decided to pick him up.

“There was this dude hitchhiking in the desert, and it was Christmas,” Rencher said. “I was just trying to be a Good Samaritan.”

Soon after, Rencher and the hitchhiker, a man named José who did not speak English, drove into a Border Patrol checkpoint on Arizona 85. The agents asked for identification and Rencher showed them his passport. But the agents grew suspicious that José was not in the country legally.

That’s when things started to go wrong.

“They rip me out of the car, handcuff me, and throw me into solitary confinement for hours — six, seven, eight hours,” Rencher said.