Border Patrol pulls over a 20-year-old in Slidell, LA for “white lights on the back of your vehicle… your reverse lights are on the whole time.”
Then, before writing a single ticket, the agent asks: “What’s your citizenship?”
The driver, Alan Laureano, was born in Slidell. His passenger — his 13-year-old stepbrother — was born in Pearl River, Louisiana. Both are U.S. citizens.
Didn’t matter. Twice, on camera, the agent tells Laureano he’s going to “check” the kid and “if he’s illegal, I will take him.”
He tries to open the 13-year-old’s car door himself. Laureano locks it and rolls the window down instead.
The agent then interrogates the child directly — full name, spelling, date of birth, birthplace — while Laureano stands his ground and refuses to hand over his own ID, telling the agent he doesn’t have the right to stop him over a taillight.
Immigration attorney Michael Gahagan reviewed the video and called it what it is: “an illegal detention.” Border Patrol isn’t authorized to detain someone over a traffic violation — they need independent reasonable suspicion of an immigration violation, and that has to come first, not get invented after the stop.
DHS’s after-the-fact statement claims the stop was based on “reasonable suspicion or probable cause of federal law violations” — but doesn’t say what that violation was. WWL Louisiana asked twice. No answer either time.
This is the pattern: pretext stop, pivot to citizenship, threaten a kid with removal before confirming anything. It only looks “routine” until you’re the one being asked to prove you belong in the country you were born in.
@CardChronicle So happy for Zion and excited to see his journey! The guy made all the difference when in our lineup and can't wait to see him in the pros.
Under Bernie's 5% billionaires wealth tax, Jeff Bezos (worth $279 billion) would owe $14 billion more in taxes and starting teacher pay in America would be raised to $60,000.
The average starting teacher would get a raise of nearly $12,000 & Bezos would still have $265 billion.
@BullandBaird That it was first done with the math being figured out with pencil and paper is the most mind-blowing and coolest thing ever. The trust and courage it all takes, simply wow.
Retired intelligence analysts confirm what the political scientists are telling us — and what the world outside is telling us — the goal of these people is the end of law, the end of democracy, and the end of a recognizable republic.
https://t.co/RQW7qAIjj3
"See kids! There IS something you'll learn in school that you'll use at your job."
When are we going to admit the problem is allowing anyone to own a gun?
Jeff Bezos's Washington Post editorial board has endorsed Pam Bondi as a "qualified" and "serious" pick for Attorney General.
Nowhere in the endorsement did they mention that she's a former Amazon lobbyist.
Billionaire control of our media is a threat to democracy.