Aizle wrote:
Actually DE, what I dismissed was your (or law enforcement's) apparent psychic ability to determine if they are Americans or not. Certainly one can determine some information about their background and region that they came from. However that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with whether they are either an American citizen or here legally or not.
I didn't say by any psychic means. I said
by talking to them. People from different Spanish-speaking countries use different slang and idioms. For example the word "vos" isn't used by Mexicans. A non-Mexican doesn't usually know what a "mochajete" is, and a non-Mexican will tell you that "pisto" is money (dinero) while a Mexican will tell you it's booze (tequila) usually. Furthermore, Mexicans are usually found in the same height ranges as Americans, while central americans are significantly shorter on average.
Mexicans can answer questions about Mexican history, just like Americans can answer questions about American history. Mexicans know who Padre Hidalgo, for example, was or Pancho Villa, someone who is a central American usually won't.
All this absolutely does have to do with whether they are an American citizen or not, or a Mexican as opposed to a Guatemalan or an El Salvadoran, etc. A person who does not speak English, has no ID, and can't answer basic questions about America isn't an American citizen, especially not if they speak Spanish like a central American rather than a Mexican (American Spanish speakers in the Southwest almost always speak it like Mexicans even if they're not Mexican and here legally or are citizens. That's because the vast majority do speak it that way, and it rubs off.)
So yes, it does necessarily have to do with if they're here legally or not, especially if they aren't carrying any immigration papers, and can't even tell you what their Alien Registration Number is. It's like anything else; you look at all the articulable facts and then decide to arrest based on probable cause. It isn't the police or immigration officer's job to prove that the person is an illegal alien, just to establish enough reason to make an arrest. The person arrested is then entitled to a hearing in front of an immigration judge - unless they are apprehended within 100 miles of the border and within 14 days of their most recent entry, in which case any immigration officer may order them summarily removed.
So enough of this bullshit about "psychic" ability and "well it doesn't necessarily mean..." Yes, it does necessarily mean a person is here illegally when they can't answer any questions about where they were supposedly born in the U.S., or their story is changing, or they think they were born in a "colonia" or "barrio" in the U.S. that has an actual name and physical address - which we don't have or use. No, USCs do not have to carry ID, but they can tell you their name and date of birth and will know what state and city they were born in - and if they are USCs born outside the USC, they will definitely know the parental history that gives them citizenship and will definitely know their naturalization information by heart.
Furthermore, any regular police officer that detains someone for immigration is going to turn them over to immigration officers anyhow, and we are all formally trained on this stuff - both the Spanish, including the ways of determining when someone is lying about their immigration or citizenship, as well as the pertinent law on immigration and nationality.
So quit talking out of your ***.