A Border Patrol agent detained two U.S. citizens at a gas station after hearing them speak Spanish

[cynatnite]

Suda said she felt uncomfortable and began recording the encounter with her cellphone after they had moved into the parking lot. In the video Suda recorded, she asks the agent why he is detaining them, and he says it is specifically because he heard them speaking Spanish.

“Ma’am, the reason I asked you for your ID is because I came in here, and I saw that you guys are speaking Spanish, which is very unheard of up here,” the agent can be heard saying in the video.

Suda asks whether they are being racially profiled; the agent says no.

“It has nothing to do with that,” the agent tells her. “It’s the fact that it has to do with you guys speaking Spanish in the store, in a state where it’s predominantly English-speaking.”

When she got home, Suda posted on Facebook about what had taken place at the gas station. She said her shock began to give way to sadness in the following days, after some local news outlets reported the incident, and her 7-year-old daughter asked whether the video meant they should no longer speak Spanish in public.

“She speaks Spanish, and she speaks English,” Suda said. “When she saw the video, she was like, ‘Mom, we can’t speak Spanish anymore?’ I said ‘No. You be proud. You are smart. You speak two languages.’ This is more for her.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/05/20/a-border-patrol-agent-detained-two-u-s-citizens-at-a-gas-station-after-hearing-them-speak-spanish/?utm_term=.77f3f21c4d2fk

[lunasun]

1. Change your state name NOW 911 !

Etymology and naming history. The name Montana comes from the Spanish word Montaña and the Latin word Montana, meaning "mountain", or more broadly, "mountainous country". Montaña del Norte was the name given by early Spanish explorers to the entire mountainous region of the west.

Change your state motto while you are at it....

Sorry I couldn't resize ..

[KY_EnviroGuy]

11. K&R - that's beautiful, thank you.

That agent should get the same treatment we got sometimes as kids when we did wrong: Make him write exactly what you said 100 times on ruled notebook paper with a No. 2 pencil.....then hand it over to the folks he offended in a public place!

............ ...........

[Aristus]

2. They have a strong case for a civil rights lawsuit.

Violation of their 4th Amendment Rights.

[uponit7771]

8. +1, yep ... dumb ass'd BPA literally admitted to it. They should follow up with a lawyer to make ...

... sure this shit doesn't happen again.

[pangaia]

3. Border patrol agent says,

"..Ma’am, the reason I asked you for your ID is because I came in here, and I saw that you guys are speaking Spanish, which is very unheard of up here,"

Well you ignorant fuck head, you need to get out more.

Oh, you ALSO need to learn to speak english yourself.. Shithead...

[gratuitous]

4. "It has nothing to do with" profiling

Any vulnerable-looking folks speaking Spanish would have enjoyed the same attention from this over-officious prick. So, you know, totally not profiling.

[dalton99a]

5. Betcha they do it all the time to Canadians speaking Canadian in McAllen

[malaise]

6. Americans traveling overseas better home nationals from other countries

don't demand that they speak the language of their countries. This stupid racism will backfire.

[USALiberal]

7. I don't think you ever have to show ID unless driving........

Maybe verbally identify yourself but not show Id. And I don’t think border patrol agents have the same rights as the police do to question you.

[Lee-Lee]

9. It depends. If you are within 100 miles of the border it's a whole different set of rules

Within that 100 mile zone Border Patrol has more ability to question people and can actually do things that they can’t anyhweh else and cops can’t do.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/two-thirds-americans-live-border-zone-what-are-their-rights-n841141

It’s a complicated issue on just what they can and can’t do in that zone. Look at 10 different sources on it and you will see 10 different answers.

[NutmegYankee]

10. American citizens are not required to carry ID. We are not a "you're papers please" land.

You only need ID to access controlled places or a drivers license to operate a motor vehicle. Once you tell the agent you are a US citizen, the grounds for the stop should be over.

And even when this guy got the IDs, he didn't hand them back and apologize, he called them in and held US citizens for 35 minutes.

[Lee-Lee]

14. I'm not sure what the courts have ruled an unreasonable detention period for them

In that border zone they do have broader authority to detain people for purposes of investigating their legal immigration status. There is a point where they are exceed what is considered an allowable period of detention for investigative purposes, and I’m not sure what the current case law on that i, but 35 minutes would almost certainly fall within the allowable time frame for an investigative detention for them as it would be even for regular cops in most cases.

Now as to what they allow for them as far as reasonable suspicion to detain someone for investigation to begin with, I don’t know where that line is drawn. What is given in this story wouldn’t be enough for me as a deputy to investigate someone, but like I said within that 100 mile zone the law and the courts are much more lenient with them on what suspicion they need to initiate contact and investigate.

And this isn’t new, within that border zone.

[USALiberal]

19. Thanks Lee-Lee for the info!!! nt

[KY_EnviroGuy]

12. Trump would like to enshrine xenophobia into the law of the land.

Sorry, Donny boy, but the courts would like to have a word with you on that one......

I shudder to think what the bottom-line court costs of all of tRump's malfeasance will be to the public purse. And, that in no way accounts for the pain and suffering caused by his administration's actions (and non-actions).

....... .........

[DFW]

13. A local teacher at my school in Spain once told us a story of his first visit to the USA.

He was in Texas somewhere (this was over 50 years ago), and he heard some Anglos referring to Mexicans as "Spanish." He meant well, when he tried to correct them, saying they weren't Spanish. He tried to explain (well-meaning, and not having been there before) that HE was Spanish (i.e. from Spain) and THEY were Mexican. The Anglos, never having met some actually from Spain before, had no idea what he meant.

However, if you call an Anglo Texan "English," he will instantly correct you, explaining that Elton John is English and that he is "American." He would be unlikely to understand, however, that to someone from Spain, a Mexican is just as "American" as a Texan is to a Brit.

Making an assumption just hearing someone speak some "other" language is so stupid (or Trumpian, if you will) anyway. For my job, I need to know several languages, and I try to learn them to the best of my ability. There was a time in Holland when, speaking Dutch, I was told that if I spent some more time there, I might lose my accent, and no one would notice any more that I was from South Africa (a place I have never been). Another time, in Sweden, I was told that my Swedish was ALMOST perfect, but they could still tell I was from Norway. In neither case, I might add, was I asked to show my passport. But just speaking a language does NOT automatically indicate where anyone is from, and sure as hell does not indicate what is listed on someone's citizenship papers.

If two visiting professors from Spain, teaching at some local university, had been speaking Spanish in the incident recounted above, I suspect they might have been subject to the same treatment. I doubt that the ignorant agent would have had the inability to distinguish between the distinctive accent of someone from Spain as opposed to the very different accent of someone from Latin America. I suppose it would be asking too much for immigration enforcers to tread lightly at first, in case they find themselves in a situation where they don't know shit.

[IronLionZion]

15. It sounds like racist idiots apply to join border patrol

these are not often the pro-diversity types who grew up with all sorts of friends.

And since we are not following the 14th amendment anymore I'd like to start challenging these white border agents to prove they're not Canadian, European, Australian, etc. since whites could be from those countries. I assure you, Americans are not white. The US census has data to prove it.

[Iggo]

16. Yep, tons of Mexicans are sneaking into Montana though Canada.

Good job, officer!!!

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

17. Think they'd be detained if they spoke German?

Nah

[cynatnite]

18. I told my husband that a few minutes ago...

He's from Montana and there is a lot of agriculture in that area around Havre. Potatoes, wheat and soy beans. There's a large Latino population. He said the guy was the dumbest racist asshole he's ever seen.