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Feds Drop Charges Against Man Apprehended In Bangor Because He Spoke Spanish

Linda Coan O'Kresik
/
Bangor Daily News
Goodwill on Stillwater Avenue in Bangor.

Federal prosecutors have dropped a felony charge against a Guatemalan man who border patrol agents picked up after hearing him and his family speaking Spanish at a Bangor Goodwill.In an affidavit supporting the felony charge, a border patrol agent described bringing in Mateo Carmelo-Bartolo and members of the family, but didn't provide any reason for this other than that they were speaking Spanish and appeared to be of  "Central American origin."

"In my opinion, that appeared to be racial and ethnic profiling," says Carmelo-Bartolo's attorney, Ronald Bourget.  He says the U.S. Attorney's Office doesn't give a reason for requesting that the case be dismissed, but in his view, that's probably why it was dropped.

 

"This agent was seeing someone who appeared to be a certain type, and that type being of Central-American origin," Bourget says. "That's racial profiling and it's not allowed under U.S. law."

 

The U.S. Attorney's Office has declined comment. But in its motion to dismiss notice filed Friday at U.S. District Court in Bangor, it says pursuing the federal felony charge was not "in the interest of justice."

As of early this afternoon, Carmelo-Bartolo has not been released from the Somerset County Jail. Staff there say he is being held for U.S. Marshals. Bourget says the hold is for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Carmelo-Bartolo is facing further immigration proceedings.

Originally published Oct. 21, 2019 at 1:34 p.m. ET.
  

 

 

Nora is originally from the Boston area but has lived in Chicago, Michigan, New York City and at the northern tip of New York state. Nora began working in public radio at Michigan Radio in Ann Arbor and has been an on-air host, a reporter, a digital editor, a producer, and, when they let her, played records.