'Go back to their country:' Protests held after Naperville Bucky's employee questions customers' citizenship

NAPERVILLE, Ill. (WLS) -- Protests were held outside of a gas station Wednesday in the western suburbs after video of an employee questioning Hispanic customers' citizenship status went viral.

Protesters are calling on the Bucky's Convenience Store's owner to fire the store clerk for the comments that many have deemed racist.

After a bike ride Tuesday, the Fernanda sisters, who are visiting from Mexico, and other relatives stopped at the gas station. One of their cousins from Naperville, Indira Buitron, 15, went inside to buy a bag of chips. Indira said the male clerk looked at her family waiting outside and asked her if her Mexican cousins were legal.

"I was really confused on why he wanted to know if they are illegal or not, so when I got out of the gas station I told my mom," Indira said.

Another Naperville cousin, Carolina Buitron, then went inside to confront the clerk.

"I asked him, oh so you want to be a racist. I was like that's not OK. He said you need to leave; I said I don't need to leave. He said I'm American; I said I'm American too, I was born here," Carolina said.

The confrontation escalated, the clerk told the family they need to go back to their country and made threats about calling ICE.

The exchange prompted Wednesday's protest with strangers coming out in support of the family.

"I was mortified that this employee felt it was OK for him to speak to anyone in that manner," said Liz Albert, a Wheaton resident.

The clerk's comments come on the heels of President's Trump's racist tweets telling some congressional women of color to go back to the countries they come from.

Trump supporter Bob Ahlgren thought the gas station protest was about that incident until he learned what the clerk said to the family.

"I don't disagree with them now that I know what is going on. If that was my place and employee and he disrespected people like that I'd lay him off too," Ahlgren said.

Bucky's released a statement regarding the incident:

"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."

The store has not released any information about how the clerk will be disciplined.

The Naperville Police Department is investigating the incident. They released a statement regarding the incident:

"The Naperville Police Department has reviewed the social media video of an incident that occurred at the Bucky's Gas Station located at 1576 S. Washington St. in Naperville. We will continue to investigate the matter as well as monitor any related activities occurring in Naperville."