A story involving the 4th and 14th Amendments, in addition to the broad authority of the Border Patrol.
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Two Montana women are suing US Customs and Border Protection officers for detaining them at a gas station last year because they were speaking Spanish — the latest legal challenge to the agency’s broad authority to patrol the border zone.
Ana Suda and Martha Hernandez were questioned in May by a uniformed officer as they waited in line to buy eggs and milk at a convenience store in Havre, Montana — a tiny town 35 miles from the US border with Canada. The officer then detained the two women, who are American citizens, for 30 to 40 minutes outside by his patrol car.
Suda filmed the heated encounter on her cellphone, making headlines across the country when it went viral on social media.
Both women are nurse’s assistants and have been living and working in Havre for several years, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday in Montana federal court. The American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the plaintiffs, says the Border Patrol officer violated their constitutional right to equal protection (and treatment) under the law, as enshrined in the Fourteenth Amendment.
Their lawyers also say the matter amounted to an illegal search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment. Their argument boils down to this: Detaining someone solely for speaking Spanish is the same thing as stopping someone solely because of their race — which is illegal.
