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Border Patrol agent detains two US citizens at a gas station in MT after hearing them speak Spanish
Popehat Retweeted: https://twitter.com/Popehat
Speaking Spanish is not a valid reason for Border Patrol to question or detain you.
The Constitution prohibits all law enforcement agencies, including @CBP, from racial profiling and arbitrary searches and detentions.
Link to tweet
Post Nation
A Border Patrol agent detained two U.S. citizens at a gas station after hearing them speak Spanish
By Amy B Wang May 20 at 5:45 PM [link:amy.wang@washpost.com|Email the author]
A Montana woman said she plans to take legal action after a Border Patrol agent detained and questioned her and a friend — both U.S. citizens — when he overheard them speaking Spanish at a gas station.
The incident occurred early Wednesday morning at a convenience store in Havre, Mont., a town in the northern part of the state, near the border with Canada.
Ana Suda said she and her friend, Mimi Hernandez, were making a midnight run to the store to pick up eggs and milk. Both are Mexican American and speak fluent Spanish, and they had exchanged some words in Spanish while waiting in line to pay when a uniformed Border Patrol agent interrupted them, Suda said.
“We were just talking, and then I was going to pay,” Suda told The Washington Post. “I looked up {and saw the agent}, and then after that, he just requested my ID. I looked at him like, ‘Are you serious?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, very serious.’ ”
....
Amy B Wang is a general assignment reporter covering national and breaking news for The Washington Post. She joined The Post in 2016 after seven years with the Arizona Republic. Follow @amybwang
A Border Patrol agent detained two U.S. citizens at a gas station after hearing them speak Spanish
By Amy B Wang May 20 at 5:45 PM [link:amy.wang@washpost.com|Email the author]
A Montana woman said she plans to take legal action after a Border Patrol agent detained and questioned her and a friend — both U.S. citizens — when he overheard them speaking Spanish at a gas station.
The incident occurred early Wednesday morning at a convenience store in Havre, Mont., a town in the northern part of the state, near the border with Canada.
Ana Suda said she and her friend, Mimi Hernandez, were making a midnight run to the store to pick up eggs and milk. Both are Mexican American and speak fluent Spanish, and they had exchanged some words in Spanish while waiting in line to pay when a uniformed Border Patrol agent interrupted them, Suda said.
“We were just talking, and then I was going to pay,” Suda told The Washington Post. “I looked up {and saw the agent}, and then after that, he just requested my ID. I looked at him like, ‘Are you serious?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, very serious.’ ”
....
Amy B Wang is a general assignment reporter covering national and breaking news for The Washington Post. She joined The Post in 2016 after seven years with the Arizona Republic. Follow @amybwang