You're a Racist

Disclaimer: in reading through my posts that got written, but never published, this was one of them. This group visited Frontera de Cristo in late July/early August.

This title is not something that people would generally like said to them, especially not when a person of another race is within hearing distance.

I certainly wanted to say it to a Customs official though.

Over the last 2 days I hosted a group that came to visit Frontera de Cristo, and upon arriving we had schedule changes, and decided to take a quick walk over the border to shop for a few minutes in Mexico.

After a 45 minute romp around the shopping street and the ice cream shop at the plaza, we headed back to the port of entry, to cross on foot across to Douglas. I went first, allowing the 8 members of the group to see what crossing through the pedestrian entry was like, and waited for each one to be let through by customs officials. While the officials asked me a couple irritating questions ('Why were you all standing out front in a group?') Duh...we are one.

I watched as the 2 men of our group passed through without a single problem, and hardly any questions asked. The customs officials simply swiped their passport, asked where they were coming from and what they were doing in Mexico, and then let them through. Soon after a couple more members had passed, the 2 Latino women in our group also presented their passports, each to an individual agent.

I watched in disgust as the customs agent automatically spoke Spanish to Isabel (name used with permission), assuming that she couldn't speak English (which she does). Then he badgered her with questions, looking through every page of her passport, asking why she was in Mexico, what she was doing there, what she was bringing back into the United States, and finally asking what she had in her bag. When she responded 'Nothing', the agent requested to see inside her belongings. She willingly put the backpack on the inspection table, and the customs agent rifled through her bag, taking things out, putting them out on the table, and after what seemed to be every other item, asking her why she had carried each of those items. 

After he seemed satisfied digging through her personal belongings, he left them out on the table, and told her she was free to pass.


Now we are up to date....Present day.

Perhaps these agents just woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Perhaps they assume that the only people trying to cross illegally into the United States at the Douglas Port of Entry are Mexicans, and for that reason, keep an eye out for allll Latinos (which are easily 99 % of the people who cross through there daily).

If that's the case, I should have brought the Polish dude, who came through our Migrant resource center, over to say hi.