Securing our Borders: Detaining 96-Year-Olds
By Steve Kinsman, 6th Jul 2012 | Follow this author
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Posted in WikinutNewsCrime
In Arizona, if you are Latino, you are treated differently than whites, no matter what your credentials are.
Raul Castro
Raul Castro is ninety-six years old. He is also a former Governor of the state of Arizona, having been elected in 1974 and serving from 1974 through 1977. He was Arizona's first and only Hispanic governor. Castro also served as Ambassador to Bolivia and El Salvador in the 1960's, and he and his wife retired in Nogales, Arizona in 1981 after he served as Ambassador to Argentina.
Castro was traveling from his home in Nogales to celebrate his 96th birthday in Tucson when his vehicle was stopped by U. S. Border Patrol Agents at a checkpoint on Interstate 19. Castro's heart pacemaker triggered a radiation detector at the checkpoint, so the agents demanded he step out of his car and subject himself to a search and inspection. He stood for forty-five minutes, dressed in a suit in 100 degree heat before the agents allowed him back in his car. Anne Doan, a family friend who was driving his car, pleaded with the agents to let Castro remain in the air-conditioned car, but they refused her request.
In an interview, Castro told the Arizona Republic newspaper that he "was not thrilled" by the way he was treated. He acknowledged that the Border Patrol was "there to do a job," but that they need a better system to deal with elderly people. "Once I identified myself, who I was, and that I had been to the doctor, I was on medical care, I have a pacemaker in my heart, I would have thought that they would have been more considerate and said 'Keep on going', but that didn't happen."
Of course, had Castro been white instead of brown-skinned, the incident is likely to have never occurred.
Comments
6th Jul 2012 (#)
Disgraceful! stereotyping people...no excuse for such behavior.
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7th Jul 2012 (#)
Exactly. Thank you Jerry.
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6th Jul 2012 (#)
Very interesting articles
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7th Jul 2012 (#)
Thank you norlaw.
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7th Jul 2012 (#)
We are invited to the same party but treated differently, sometimes! The elderly, especially, should be treated with due consideration. No excuse for such behavior. Thanks Steve for another bold snippet - siva
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7th Jul 2012 (#)
Thank you Siva. I appreciate your comment.
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7th Jul 2012 (#)
I agree with you.It was color that mattered.But US had got colored many centuries ago.
Our Indian VIPs including our former President(!) were halted at US Airport for hours together for questioning.But in the case of Raul Castro it was only 45 minutes.But they must have considered his age, his artificial health equipments like pace maker etc while dealing with him.When other factors predominated it was no avail. An interesting share.Thanks.
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7th Jul 2012 (#)
There was no excuse for detaining this man for even one minute. And to make him stand in 100 degree heat with his suit on was unconscionable. My apologies as an American for the way your Indian
VIP's were treated.
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7th Jul 2012 (#)
Now Steve, how do you know if Mr. Castro was white he would have had any different treatment, are you just assuming, again?
You yourself wrote that a radiation detector went off, come on! Steve, you kill me with these 'stories' that you write about where you have to add your own spin without any facts to back it up, that is what is disgusting!
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7th Jul 2012 (#)
Denise, this is one of the times when I have to go to Steve's defense. As you know, I have been in law enforcement, even if it was military law enforcement. It is standard procedure for both military and civilian law enforcement personnel to place a suspect in the back of a patrol car or other vehicle once he or she has been searched and restrained while their vehicle is being searched and a check is being ran on their ID.It is cruel and unusual punishment to make anyone stand in such heat for a prolonged period of time no matter what their age but it is especially cruel to make an elderly person with a health condition to stand in that kind of heat.
As for the radiation detector going off--it takes five minutes to run the instruments self-check program and another ten minutes at most to recheck the vehicle.
Steve may be prone to dramatise from time to time but there is no denying that Native Americans, Hispanics, and Blacks are not treated the same as whites are treated.
Sorry, my friend, but I have to side with Steve on this one. Justice is supposed to be color blind but equal justice regardless of race, color, or creed does not exist in this country today and maybe it never did.
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7th Jul 2012 (#)
Very well put Jerry. Thank you.
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7th Jul 2012 (#)
No thanks needed, Steve. I just call them the way I see them. We may not always agree, but when you are right, you are right, and I will throw my full support behind you, even when it means going against the opinions of a friend. I somehow suspect that you would do the same if the situation was reversed.
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7th Jul 2012 (#)
I would indeed - thanks, Jerry.
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7th Jul 2012 (#)
Denise, are you trying to tell me we don't treat people of color differently from whites in this country? Please see Jerry's comments below.
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7th Jul 2012 (#)
Its very sad Steve. Great of you to have highloghted it
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7th Jul 2012 (#)
Thank you Madan.
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7th Jul 2012 (#)
I knew this was one of your exposes Steve love before even opening it. thank you again for enlightening us in your brilliant manner...still at workshop...it is incredible!!
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7th Jul 2012 (#)
Thank you cnwriter. I appreciate that.
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8th Jul 2012 (#)
I do not feel enlightened. I agree with Denise. Steve, you put a spin on your stories and invite contradiction, then display your rejection, sometimes in too strong terms. No, Steve, "my anger will not kill me", and your "rabble rousing" only irritates me.
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8th Jul 2012 (#)
As you, Ivyevelyn, irritate many of us who aren't wearing blinders.
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8th Jul 2012 (#)
So you think people of color are not treated any differently from white people in this country? If you cannot see the truth that is right in front of you, then there is no way to reason with you.
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8th Jul 2012 (#)
Write a page, Jerry.
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8th Jul 2012 (#)
I have written plenty of pages, twit, and I will write plenty more.
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8th Jul 2012 (#)
Keep writing, Jerry.
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8th Jul 2012 (#)
At least I have something worth writing about, Twit. Try your bullshit on one of my pages and I'll cut you off at the ankles.
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8th Jul 2012 (#)
Steve: You are going to have to bring in more henchmen besides Jerry. The "tide is beginning to turn". Jerry does not help you; he is too foul-mouthed and misguided. I have no more to say on this ridiculous page!
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8th Jul 2012 (#)
Ivy...sweetheart...you're repeating yourself again. But, then, what can we expect from a brainless Tw_t.
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8th Jul 2012 (#)
Bring in more henchmen? Whatever are you talking about? Your conversation (if that's what it's called) here is with Jerry. Why are you addressing me? The "tide is beginning to turn" - whatever does that mean? And who's making this page ridiculous? And why are you bothering to comment at all on my pages if you find them ridiculous?
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9th Jul 2012 (#)
Isn't Jerry your spokesperson? You must be proud of his support.
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9th Jul 2012 (#)
Ivyevelyn, as Steve said, he and I are poles apart politically and more often than not we have agreed to disagree because we respect each others right to his own opinion. I'm not Steve's spokes person but when he is right, I will support him completely as he would me. The differences between you, me, and Steve is that Steve and I are open-minded and are not afraid to admit when we are wrong. You, on the other hand, are totally closed-minded, so fixated on your twisted beliefs that you cannot even see when you are wrong.
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9th Jul 2012 (#)
I am proud of his support. Jerry and I are as far apart politically as can be, but we respect and admire each other's honesty and integrity, and if one of us differ's with the other's opinion, which often happens, neither of us sees it as a personal attack. So, yes Ivyevelyn, I am indeed very proud of Jerry's support. Thank you.
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9th Jul 2012 (#)
Amen.
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9th Jul 2012 (#)
I would not be proud of being supported by such a foul-mouthed. misguided person. Go back to moderating, Steve, and stop going after me! You are boring me.
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10th Jul 2012 (#)
Stop going after you? I'M going after YOU? Lady, you were the one who commented here, not the other way around. You keep accusing me of doing the things you do. And if I'm boring you, then why are you here?
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10th Jul 2012 (#)
Yeah...if we are boring you why don't you get off this page and all of Steve's other pages? As for me having a foul mouth...you haven't heard foul yet.
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10th Jul 2012 (#)
As a supposed "military man of some consequence", I am curious to see how far you can go. You and Steve deserve each other.
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10th Jul 2012 (#)
Steve, I commented and you attacked. There are time when I do not like to leave irresponsible people with the last word!
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10th Jul 2012 (#)
Like most insecure people with nothing worthwhile to say, you are compelled to get in the last word. Irresponsible people...you wouldn't know what it meant to be responsible if it slapped you in your ugly snout.
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10th Jul 2012 (#)
You write whatever your imagination tells you to. I have nothing more to say to you. I will remove any comment you make henceforth.
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