A Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agent demanded proof of citizenship from people riding a bus last week, and one woman caught the act on camera.
Yolanda Varela Gonzalez, a teacher from California, compared the incident to Nazi Germany. She posted the video to Facebook.
“Sir You’re not allowed to be in this can I get your badge number and your name” Gonzalez asks.
“You a citizen You a citizen Great,” the agent, who has not been identified, says, ignoring Gonzalez at first. He then confronts her.
“Who are you You know my job”
“Yes, I do know your job, as a matter of fact; I just looked it up,” Gonzalez responds. She then repeatedly asks the man for his name.
The agent points to his name on his suit but does not say it out loud, and part of the name is covered. The two have an altercation on the agent’s name. Eventually he walks away and continues checking IDs.
“You know, you guys terrorizing people. They shouldn’t have to claim their citizenship.”
“This is bulls**t, this is what you guys do to everybody. No, it’s not right. This is we’re living in Nazi Germany where you need to show your ID within the states, this is bulls**t,” Gonzalez says. She then speaks in Spanish.
“Abolish ICE!” she shouts in English.
The incident took place near Deming, N.M., according to KOAT Action News 7, on a bus heading from El Paso to Los Angeles. CBP said in a statement to KOAT that the checkpoint was legal because the bus was within 100 miles of the border.
The full statement reads:
“The purpose of U.S. Border Patrol Immigration Checkpoints is to conduct effective immigration inspections and halting smuggling and other illicit activity from reaching the interior of the United States. Border Patrol Agents work within their authority to conduct these inspections within 100 miles of the border as authorized by law and Supreme Court rulings. This important role is vital in protecting our nation.”
But legal or not, Gonzalez feels the act violates peoples’ rights.
“It really boils down to how people are being treated regardless of how many miles it is, the fact that people are living in fear,” she told KOAT. “And yes it’s racial profiling, and that is just a violation, any sort of racial profiling is a violation of human rights and civil rights.”
And the incident speaks to the national climate at large.
“I understand that they are employed and this is their job, but I think it’s a conversation that needs to seriously occur on a much larger scale. This isn’t about one bus, this isn’t about one border patrol agent, this is really about the whole system,” she said.
