2 Citizens Detained in Montana For Speaking Spanish Settle Lawsuit

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Courthouse News Service


November 24, 2020
CARSON McCULLOUGH

(CN) — Two American citizens who claim they were wrongfully detained for speaking Spanish in public settled their lawsuit against the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and individual agents, the ACLU announced Tuesday.

On May 16, 2018, Ana Suda and Martha “Mimi” Hernandez — both certified nurse assistants — stopped at a local convenience store in Havre, Montana, to pick up some groceries for their families. While the two women waited in the cashier line and casually spoke with one another in Spanish, CBP Agent Paul O’Neill reportedly approached the two women and began to ask questions about their accents and where they were from.

O’Neill allegedly ordered the two to provide their identification and did not allow them to pay for their groceries until they had done so. After learning that both were American citizens, with valid Montana’s driver’s licenses, the three moved to the parking lot of the store where Suda and Hernandez began to film the incident.

According to the video, the two women asked the agent why they were being questioned, and the agent replied that it was “very unheard of up here” to see people speaking Spanish. Havre, a city with a population of 9,310, is around 45 miles south of the Canadian border.

Read more: https://www.courthousenews.com/2-citizens-detained-in-montana-for-speaking-spanish-settle-lawsuit/

[elleng]

1. "very unheard of up here" to see people speaking Spanish

[onetexan]

7. Seems this racist agent can't speak his own language

So what gives him the right to question someone else's multilingual abilities? What a goober.

[Xipe Totec]

11. Given the reception, why would we be surprised.

The filter is there to chase away Spanish speakers.

[yonder]

2. The CBP agent was speaking (and thinking) Bigot-rian.

Not so very unheard of.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

3. Oh, dear lord.

I live in New Mexico. I normally hear Spanish spoken every day, several times every day. My only issue is that I don't usually understand what anyone is saying, other than the odd word. My problem, not theirs.

I am in awe of the effortless bi-lingualism I observe every single day.

I have a good friend who grew up more or less bi-lingual in Italian and English. He took French and German in high school, had a girlfriend from Puerto Rico from whom he more or less learned Spanish. After college he was in the Peace Corps, in Malaysia. What I love when I am with him is that every time I turn around he is speaking with someone else in one of his several languages. As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't get any better than that.

[Cha]

4. I was hoping the two women

would get monetary payment for their having to leave town under threat of harm, because they were harassed by the agents.. their "crime".. speaking Spanish!

[BlueMTexpat]

6. This is NOT

the Montana I grew up in.

Had it not been for the various immigrant and refugee communities (a very broad spectrum), the state would not even have the population it has now. I grew up among many families who were at least bilingual and who were proud to be.

The more recent immigrants seem to be people like the Unspeakably Awful Felon Giant Fart, who will take over the Governor's office in January 2021. They are extremely wealthy people who buy politicians and offices and then be damned to everyone else.

[still_one]

5. The Biden/Harris administration will be doing a lot purges to get rid of the racists and bigots

Last edited Wed Nov 25, 2020, 09:09 AM - Edit history (1)

that trump was responsible for

[Cha]

8. Yes they will. they won't stand

for the kind of behavior that trump fomented.

There have always been racists but trump brought them out of the woodwork & made it more prevalent.

trump was/is their role model.. well he got FIRED by 80 Million People & 306 EVs!

[NurseJackie]

9. Landslide! Mandate! Blowout!

Fuck the racists. Fuck the whiners. Fuck EVERYONE who thinks they are entitled! This is the BIDEN ADMINISTRATION now. We have a new sheriff in town!

[Cha]

10. Amen Sista! Totally what

you said!

3 magic words.. Landslide, Mandate, & Blowout!

Landslide was actually predicted by some.. it just happened to be a long drawn out LANDSLIDE!

[RicROC]

12. heard at Costco, Rochester NY

On any day while shopping at our local Costco, I hear many languages being spoken. And I'm not sure I can even label them, since I don't speak anything but English and German. But I'd guess along with Spanish, there's Indian, Chinese, and Arabic.

[HuskyOffset]

13. Someone needs to organize

a bunch of Star Trek nerds to be in places that this agent frequents, and when he shows up, start speaking Klingon. Then, when demands ID, present him with United Federation of Plants issued diplomatic IDs.

[lunasun]

14. Small town won't get bigger and moron doesn't know his state's name is ........Spanish

The name Montana comes from the Spanish word montaña, which in turn comes from the Latin word montanea, meaning "mountain" or more broadly "mountainous country".[8][9] Montaña del Norte was the name given by early Spanish explorers to the entire mountainous region of the west -Wkikpedia

thank you ACLU proving this was not an isolated incident either from the link

As if the racism they experienced at the hands of CBP agents were not enough, our clients also bore the brunt of local backlash as a result of coming forward,” Borgmann said in a press statement. “They both ultimately left Havre for fear of their families’ safety.”

The lawsuit further alleges that what happened to the two women was no isolated incident. Representatives for Suda and Hernandez claim that as the lawsuit unfolded, it became clear that the incident at the convenience store was representative of a much larger pattern

——Then these towns then cry but no jobs industries blah blah blah
Who would like to go there who would want to visit as a tourist ? Fascist dream spot I guess

[GusBob]

15. Havre Montana is "going into town" for me

Oh the stories I could tell

I live in the Mountains outside Havre. To be short, it’s not a friendly place for anyone. Folks there seem to just plain hate life

My favorite story is how the ranchers ( all Trumpers) got together and tried to boycott the Hutterites the local religious colonies, for being socialists
They claimed the Hutterites don’t pay taxes (they do)
They claimed they were on welfare ( they aint)
They claimed they were socialist cuz their ranches were successful ( they are hugely successful) while the Trumper ranches are not

The reason the Hutterites are successful is they raise their kids right
The ranchers kids can’t wait to get the hell out of Havre cuz it sucks