The Pennsylvania State Police Unfairly Targets Latinx People
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On June 27, after analyzing over 30 incidents involving state police stops and interactions that impacted over 150 people, the ACLU of Pennsylvania and a team of volunteer attorneys filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Pennsylvania State Police and seven troopers on behalf of 10 motorists, challenging the troopers’ unlawful enforcement of federal immigration law. The troopers’ behavior has created fear throughout our commonwealth, and many Latinx people have suffered and are suffering. Below are just a few personal accounts from people who’ve been impacted.
Rebecca’s Story
Every time I think about how we were treated, I tear up. It’s hard to replay what happened to us and to imagine similar incidents happening to others.
I was driving my now-husband, Carlos, and our coworker from Luzerne County to Maryland to install a carport. While sitting at a red light, I noticed a police trooper vehicle in the median. Inside the vehicle was Trooper Macke — he was watching us. During the next several minutes, he made every effort to examine who was in my car and then he yelled out of his window at me to pull over.
According to Trooper Macke, my vehicle “looked suspicious,” and there had been reports of human trafficking in the area. This seemed totally bogus to me — I mean, my pick-up truck was pulling a gooseneck trailer that had no walls and my window tint was within the legal limit, so I don’t know what he was talking about.
His intentions became very clear when he began to interrogate Carlos and our coworker about their immigration status, even though I had given him my license and registration. Eventually, he called ICE and forced us to be questioned by an ICE agent over the phone. He even made me talk with the ICE officer — and I’m a U.S. citizen. We knew that our rights were being violated, but when we tried to stand up for ourselves, he became visibly agitated. His only objective was to hunt down and detain Latinx immigrants.
ICE came and took Carlos and our coworker. Trooper Macke towed my truck, and trailer and I was left stranded with no transportation to get home. It was truly a nightmare.
— Rebecca Castro
