Amy Tan had some choice words for border patrol agents after hearing about an incident near the U.S. Canadian border.
Two American women were waiting in line at a gas station to buy eggs and milk when a Border Patrol agent asked them for their ID’s and questioned them for 40 minutes.
What were they doing to warrant this interrogation? They were speaking Spanish.
Ana Suda and her friend are furious at the encounter that occurred in Montana. What’s infuriating is that it’s entirely legal.
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Although the practice is more common near the border with Mexico, ICE gents have the power to stop anyone they suspect is in this country without documentation if they are within 100 miles of any border. In this case, the border in question is the one shared with Canada, which was 35 miles away.
Legal or not, Joy Luck Club author Amy Tan thought the agent’s actions and the fear that foreign languages stirs up with monolingual Americans was out of line and not in the tradition of our country’s values.
She used social media to convey her video message in Spanish (except for the two last words.) She also provided a translation:
Translation:
To the racists who believe that someone who speaks Spanish has no right to be in the United States, I say—and in English so they understand— “Fuck you.” pic.twitter.com/agacIgosGJ— Amy Tan (@AmyTan) May 23, 2018
A few people were offended by my profanity in my last post. My message is in Spanish to say I stand with people who receive racial hatred. And “Fuck you” means WE ARE NOT SILENT. I urge everyone to speak out and post with whatever language and words gets your message across.
— Amy Tan (@AmyTan) May 24, 2018
The women spoke Spanish, but it could just as well have been Tagalog, Cantonese, Vietnamese or any one of the scores of languages used in Asia. The incident occurred in Montana but it could just as well have happened in Buffalo, NY, or San Diego. Technically, the East and West coasts are borders so ICE could argue that rule might applies to New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Boston and and a host of other coastal cities.
In the CNN interview below, Suda says an agent told her that Canadians speaking French are not stopped and questioned by ICE.
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