Can Someone Be Deported For Stealing A Small $ Amount Of Merchandise?

Was leaving a Walmart super center yesterday afternoon and headed towards the exit. Heard a store worker yell “Hey! You didn’t pay for that stuff!” We turned around and it was an older man with 4 gallons of sweet tea in his basket. He had pushed his cart down past the cash registers and was walking out like he had paid for the stuff. Apparently they were watching him and stopped him. He was acting like he didn’t understand the employee but he stopped, I don’t know how many more were before that employee. He could get arrested for stealing $16 dollars worth of tea. We got the heck out of there and didn’t watch.