US Border Agency Faces Lawsuit After Spanish Speaking Americans Detained - Advocacy Group
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is facing a federal lawsuit after an agent allegedly detained two American citizens for simply speaking Spanish in a store, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) advocacy group said in a statement on Thursday
"We're suing CBP for illegally detaining two US citizens just because they were speaking Spanish in a convenience store in Montana," ACLU said in a Twitter post.
According to the complaint filed by the ACLU in the US District Court for the District of Montana, a CBP agent detained Ana Suda and Martha Hernandez last May as they were shopping at a convenience store in the state of Montana.
The agent questioned the two about nationality and forced them to present their driver's licenses, the ACLU lawsuit alleges.
The ACLU insists that the detention of Suda and Hernandez violated their constitutional rights. The CBP agent in the incident believed that the use of Spanish justified his decision to detain both women, the advocacy group said.
CBP must have "reasonable suspicion" in order to conduct a brief investigatory stop and "probable cause" for a longer arrest, but the CBP agent in this incident had no legally legitimate reason to do so, the release said.
The lawsuit asks the court to enjoin CBP to stop detaining individuals on the basis of race, language or accent and seeks punitive damages and compensation for the two women who were detained.