Guidelines ask agents to target Spanish speakers at border

The agency said the program is being carried out in a “thoughtful and deliberate manner” that protects vulnerable migrants and is done in collaboration with the Mexican government.Two U.S. officials who were not authorized to discuss the internal guidance and spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed contents of the memos obtained by the AP.Explicitly targeting Spanish speakers and Latin Americans had not been previously disclosed, though some critics said it was no surprise considering that recent arrest numbers are largely Central Americans.Judy Rabinovitz, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, said the criteria “does smack of the same concerns we had in the Muslim ban,” referring to Trump’s ban on travelers from several predominantly Muslim countries, which was eventually upheld by the Supreme Court.“We know they are trying to get at Central American asylum seekers but to see it written there so blatantly is so disturbing,” said Rabinovitz, whose organization was among those that sued the administration last month to block the policy.Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has made the administration’s “Migrant Protection Protocols” a top priority, working for months with Mexican counterparts to seal the broad outlines of an agreement in November.Testifying Wednesday in Congress, Nielsen said the U.S., working with Mexico, was exercising its authority to make people wait outside the country.“All asylum seekers have the opportunity to present their case,” she said.