So I had a rather unpleasant encounter with the US Border Patrol in New Mexico yesterday. ‘Deportation’ threat several times …for no good reason. 1/
My partner & I were traveling through NM for the past week, & yday, on our way to Albuquerque from Las Cruces, we came across a Border Checkpoint on Rt185 ~100 miles north of the border (didn’t know they existed so far north). When asked if we were US citizens, we said no. 2/
The border patrol officer asked for our passports and visas, which we didn’t carry (we had soft copies and, of course, we did have our driver’s licenses) since we were traveling within the country. We have traveled extensively within the US with only DLs for the past 15 years. 3/
The officer started berating us, asking us how we could be “so ignorant despite Indians being so smart." Asked in a patronizing tone if we knew how to use google or make a phone call to find how to "follow the laws of the country." We stopped trying to reason with him. 4/
But he only grew more patronizing and insulting: “You need to show me that you are here legally; the burden of proof is on you. I could mark you for deportation." And then he used the word ‘deportation’ several times before asking for DLs, which of course we had. 5/
He retrieved our immigration history using our DLs in *less than 5 mins* - knew where we worked, and that we had all the proper documents to be in the country. Despite all this info, he continued to use his fear-mongering tactics and proceeded to harangue us …6/
… telling us that we should have our passport and visa on us at ALL times, that we should respect the laws of the country, and that he had made a note on our files that if we were to be ‘caught' again without our original documents we could be deported (WTF?!). 7/
Yes, perhaps we should have carried our visa, but BUT, we were traveling within the country, had our DLs (a government-issued IDs, which expire on the same date as our visas), and which he could use (clearly quite easily) to get all the info about our immigration status. 8/
Finally, before letting us go, he says “I don’t make the rules, I am only responsible for enforcing them,” that beloved excuse of every fascist ever. One can only imagine what these folks do to other poor civilians, refugees, & migrants at such checkpoints. END/
