Border Patrol Racially Profiling. Near Canada.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Papers, please...

“Ma’am the reason I asked you for your ID is I came in here and I saw you guys are speaking Spanish, which is very unheard of up here [Montana] ,” the agent said, looking into the camera.

One of the women then asked if they had been stopped because of their “racial profiles.”

“No, it has nothing to do with that,” he replied, according to the video. “It’s the fact that it has to do with you guys speaking Spanish in the store in a state where it is predominantly English speaking, O.K.?”

How the hell can people be asked for their ID for speaking Spanish??  Would he have detained these women if they were speaking French or Japanese?

Get out, yanks.  Get the fuck out NOW.

Boru

[Rev. Rye]

Actually, given the fact that there's a significant French-Canadian population, I think that could be a distinct possibility.

Admittedly, the three Canadian provinces that border Montana are among the least French-speaking (though there are siginificant pockets of Francophonia like Bonnie Doon in Edmonton or Maillardville in Vancouver) , and I don't know why one would want to cross the US border illegally. Mexicans, yeah, but French Canadians?

That said, if border patrol profilers are being consistent (fat chance, I know), they probably would be asking people speaking French for their IDs. Admittedly, an influx of French-Canadians going across the border would be far more likely to swarm New England than Montana, but still.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Actually, given the fact that there's a significant French-Canadian population, I think that could be a distinct possibility.

Admittedly, the three Canadian provinces that border Montana are among the least French-speaking (though there are siginificant pockets of Francophonia like Bonnie Doon in Edmonton or Maillardville in Vancouver) , and I don't know why one would want to cross the US border illegally. Mexicans, yeah, but French Canadians?

That said, if border patrol profilers are being consistent (fat chance, I know), they probably would be asking people speaking French for their IDs. Admittedly, an influx of French-Canadians going across the border would be far more likely to swarm New England than Montana, but still.

But he specifically said that he requested their IDs because it was unusual to hear someone speaking Spanish, the implication being that if it was a language he heard a lot, he wouldn't have detained them.

Boru

[Rev. Rye]

And, of course, that still doesn’t go against what I said.

This is a list of the language stats for Montana I found on citydata.


You’ll notice that Spanish is still higher than French on the list. Hell, it’s four times more prevalent than French.