Two American women detained by Border Patrol for speaking Spanish at Montana gas station
By JOSEPH BARRACATO
| NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
MAY 21, 2018 | 1:57 AM
A Montana woman and her friend — both U.S. citizens — attempted to pick up some groceries at a local gas station and ended up being detained by a Border Patrol agent for speaking Spanish.
The agent, who identified himself as "Agent O'Neal," overheard the women picking up eggs and milk and asked for documents, according to KRTV.com.
Ana Suda paid for the items, handed over her identification and then began recording the incident. She asked the agent to explain why he stopped her and her friend.
His response stunned Suda.
Suda then asked the agent if he was racially profiling her and her friend.
"It has nothing to do with that," the officer responded in the video. "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."
Suda, 37, who was born in El Paso, Tex., told The Washington Post she was planning legal action following the incident, which resulted in her and her friend sitting in the gas station parking lot after showing the agent their IDs for an extended time.
"I was so embarrassed...being outside in the gas station, and everybody's looking at you like you're doing something wrong. I don't think speaking Spanish is something criminal, you know?" Suda told The Post. "My friend, she started crying. She didn't stop crying in the truck. And I told her, we are not doing anything wrong."
The incident happened on Wednesday, less than 24 hours before the Madison Ave. meltdown by attorney Aaron Schlossberg who threatened to sic federal immigration officials on workers at a Midtown restaurant because he heard them speaking Spanish.
* We are living in Trump's America. Now it's a crime to speak Spanish in America? Let that sink in. This is going to be a trend. Smh.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Montana shares a border with Mexico, not Canada!
rocktivity
rocktivity
