CBP settles in Havre rights violation lawsuit

American Civil Liberties Union announced today that the federal government settled a lawsuit filed by two Havre women who said they were racially profiled and wrongly detained by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent in Havre.

A release issued by ACLU said sisters Ana Suda and Martha "Mimi" Hernandez reached a settlement in their lawsuit against the Trump administration.

The plaintiffs said that CBP Agent Paul O'Neal stopped them while they were waiting in line at a convenience store to buy milk and he heard them speaking in Spanish, then took them out of the store and continued questioning them.

Suda recorded the conversation at that point, later posting on her Facebook page that they had been detained just for speaking Spanish.

The two filed a lawsuit alleging their Fourth and Fifth amendment rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution were violated by O'Neal detaining them and questioning them simply because they spoke Spanish.

The two sisters, who were born in Texas and California and had been living in Havre for several years when the incident occurred, later said they left town because of the backlash they received for filing the lawsuit.

"We stood up to the government because speaking Spanish is not a reason to be racially profiled and harassed.  I am proud to be bilingual, and I hope that as a result of this case CBP takes a hard look at its policies and practices," Suda said in the ACLU press release issued today. "No one else should ever have to go through this again."

"CBP's behavior was unconscionable and illegal, but sadly not uncommon. This agency must be held accountable," Cody Wofsy, a staff attorney with the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, said in the release.

Watch for more in Wedensday's edition of The Havre Daily News