I know the Border Patrol has a job to do, but c'mon:
The wife and a friend of former Arizona Gov. Raul Castro are calling for changes in Border Patrol procedures after agents recently detained the frail 96-year-old in 100-degree heat for more than a half-hour.
Castro said he was traveling from his home in Nogales, Ariz., to celebrate his 96th birthday in Tucson when his vehicle triggered a radiation sensor at the Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 19 north of Tubac. Arizona Republic
If you've driven around southern Arizona, you've likely encountered these checkpoints. They're set up on long stretches of backroads and freeways in the middle of nowhere -- hot, dusty, and no shelter except for a tent. White people like me are routinely waved through, but if your skin is of the brownish hue, even if you're the nation's oldest surviving governor, not so much. Nah, there's no racial profiling going on here in the
constitution-free zone. Maybe they ran a check on his identification and mistook Castro for the Cuban President.
Born in Mexico, Raúl Castro moved to the U.S. in 1926 and became an American citizen. He attended what is now Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, then earned a law degree from the UofA in Tucson, where he built up a successful practice and eventually became county attorney. Not only was he Arizona's first and, to date, only Hispanic governor, serving from 1974 to 1977, but he was also ambassador to Argentina, Bolivia, and El Salvador. He's obviously an icon in the Hispanic community, the recipient of many honors (NAU named an entire College after him). I've been privileged to meet him more than once.
Now living in the border community of Nogales, Arizona, Castro had undergone pacemaker testing the previous day, which is likely the source of the radiation sensor that triggered his detainment on June 12. The governor took the boondoggle in stride, but was obviously off-put by the treatment he received:
"Once I identified myself, who I was, and that I had been to the doctor, I was under medical care, I have a pacemaker on my heart, [I would have thought] that they would have been more considerate and said, 'Keep on going.' But that didn't happen," Castro said.
His wife and driver, Anne Doan, were not as understanding, especially since the agents referred to Castro as a "nuclear threat" and refused to allow him to sit in his air-conditioned car while they ran their background check. In a letter to the
Nogales International, Doan wrote:
I explained to the agent he had undergone a medical treatment the previous day and it must be the solution that set off their system. They said he had to stay under the tent, in 100-degree heat, while dressed in a suit... I felt the agents had no regard for the governor’s background or age or physical condition. I was embarrassed as I watched the governor being needlessly treated like a nuclear threat, especially because they knew he had just had a treatment at Tucson Heart Hospital the day before. I felt he was being disrespected as a senior citizen, much less the amazing statesman that he is.
After all of this chaos in the Arizona heat I thought it was interesting that the agents never asked me for my identification, and I was driving the car. Nogales International
Yep, the white lady driving the car wasn't asked for ID. Governor Brewer says the state is circulating a new
training video to law officials, which, in light of last week's SCOTUS ruling on SB 1070, will explain when and how to question people without resorting to racial profiling. Let's hope classes start soon.
Writing this morning in New Times, Stephen Lemons reports that the Border Patrol has "responded" to the incident:
The Border Patrol's response to the revelation that they held a frail, 96 year-old man in the 100 degree heat for no reason whatsoever? Not even a "sorry."
In an e-mail to Arizona Republic reporter Daniel Gonzalez, the BP simply rationalized its inexcusable actions, essentially calling Castro, his wife, and Doan liars in the process, asserting that the ex-governor was held for 10 minutes instead of 45. New Times
Linky: While I was writing this HBIII posted this diary, now on the Rec List.