NAPERVILLE, IL — In the midst of heightened fears over President Donald Trump's threatened Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, a video shared on social media shows Latino customers being told to "go back to their country" at a gas station in Naperville. The video, filmed at a Bucky's Mobil gas station at 1576 Washington in Naperville, shows the gas station attendant arguing with the customer and saying, "You're in the wrong country" and "ICE will come."

The customer responds with, "What is your problem?"

The video, less than a minute long, begins with the clerk talking about "undocumented immigrants" and saying, "I'm an American."

The exchange then becomes heated, with each party shouting that they hate each other.

"Don't you know the rules?" he asks, gesturing at other customers in the store. "They need to go back to their country. It's illegal."

As the customers exit, they threaten to call the police. The clerk yells "ICE will come" and "You're in the wrong country" as they walk out the door.

Patch reached out to Naperville police, and Commander Mike Son said, "We were never called (in) reference this incident. However, after seeing the video, we are now looking into it on our own."

The video was shared several times in the "What's Happening In Aurora, IL?" Facebook group late Tuesday. The woman who originally posted the video wrote, "Check this guy who didn't want to sell us anything because we are Mexicans, what a way to treat tourists."

At the time of publication, the Facebook user who originally posted the video also did not respond to a Patch's request for comment.

On Wednesday, Maria Fernanda Hernandez Murphy, 19, told Univision Chicago that the Bucky's Mobil clerk asked her "country of origin." According to Univision, the woman depicted in the video, a relative of Murphy's, intervened to ask the clerk why he had asked about her "country of origin."

The video stirred a firestorm of angry comments on social media. In the aftermath, the Bucky's Mobil store received a flood of negative reviews on Yelp and Facebook condemning the store and the clerk's behavior.

Naperville Mayor Steve Chirico took to social media to issue a statement:

As of 2 p.m. Wednesday, protesters were gathered with signs outside of the Bucky's Mobil location and a "peaceful protest" was planned for 4 p.m. by activist group Aurora Rapid Response Team.

Early Wednesday evening, Stephen Kalhorn, general counsel for Buchanan Energy, which is the parent company of Bucky's, told Patch the employee had been suspended and sent Patch the following statement,

"Within the last few hours, a video was posted on social media displaying a Bucky's associate engaged in a confrontation with a customer. The comments of this associate are not reflective of the core values of Bucky's Convenience Stores. We are aware of the situation and are managing this personnel issue. We take this matter seriously and strive to ensure that all customers are treated with respect."

Kalhorn spoke with Patch by phone and said he is not on social media and that the servers in his building don't allow access to Facebook, so he hadn't seen the customer's video, but that Buchanan Energy does not "allow employees to discriminate."

He called Bucky's a "very diverse" company.

"I will tell you that the manager of that store is female and she is Hispanic," Kalhorn said, adding that the Naperville store manager's direct boss is an African-American female.

Kalhorn then complimented an East Indian colleague he works with before adding, "I can't understand him very well."

Regarding the incident in Naperville, Kalhorn said there's more to the story.

He said surveillance video from the store shows the customers coming in with their cellphones recording as they entered the store as though they were looking to incite a reaction from the employee.

When asked if he could share the store's surveillance footage, he said he would have to check.

Kalhorn said he has worked as the General Counsel for Buchanan Energy for five years and that he handles workplace injuries and accusations of discrimination. He said Buchanan Energy has not lost a discrimination suit to date.

He added, "We'll fire white guys and white girls too, if they're not doing their jobs."

A note to readers: The following video contains language and content that some readers may find disturbing.



The Naperville incident happened just days after Trump stirred controversy by telling a quartet of U.S. congresswomen to go back to the "totally broken and crime infested places from which they came." The comments were apparently addressed to Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, all women of color. Three out of the four congresswomen were born in the United States.

"Then come back and show us how it is done," Trump said. "These places need your help badly, you can't leave fast enough."

The Xenophobic Roots Of Trump's 'Go Back' Comment: Report

The remarks drew criticism from other elected officials, and on Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted Tuesday to condemn Trump's comments.

The move comes after Trump on Tuesday urged fellow Republicans to stick by him and "not show weakness" in opposing the House resolution to condemn his tweets. The president doubled down, tweeting, "If you hate our Country, or if you are not happy here, you can leave!"



At a campaign rally in North Carolina Wednesday night, crowds chanted "Send her back" as Trump continued to attack Omar. The president nodded along and paused to allow the chant to continue.

Video Sparks Protests At Naperville Gas Station

Patch is part of ProPublica's Documenting Hate Project. This project is collecting reports to create a national database of hate crimes and bias incidents for use by journalists and civil-rights organizations. If you've been a victim or a witness, tell us your story here.

