"What hospital were you born at?" the Border Patrol agent asked. [View all]

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‘I’m an American, Bro!’: Latinos Report Raids in Which U.S. Citizenship Is Questioned - The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/15/us/hispanic-americans-raids-citizenship.html?unlocked_article_code=1.PU8.Wkac.BAb3tCnvD3bG&smid=url-share



‘I’m an American, Bro!’: Latinos Report Raids in Which U.S. Citizenship Is Questioned
A raid in Montebello, Calif., has stirred fears that federal agents are detaining and racially profiling U.S. citizens of Hispanic descent.


They swept into the Southern California car lot last Thursday at 4:32 p.m. — masked and armed Border Patrol agents in an unmarked white S.U.V.

One agent soon twisted Jason Brian Gavidia’s arm and pressed him against a black metal fence outside the lot where he runs an auto body shop in Montebello, a working-class suburb east of the Los Angeles city limits. Another officer then asked him an unusual question to prove whether he was a U.S. citizen or an undocumented immigrant.

“What hospital were you born at?” the Border Patrol agent asked.

Mr. Gavidia, 29, was born only a short drive from where they were standing, in East Los Angeles. He did not know the hospital’s name. “I was born here,” he shouted at the agent, adding, “I’m an American, bro!”

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“I know enough to know this is not right at all,” Mr. Gavidia said in an interview. “Latinos in general are getting attacked. We’re all getting attacked.”