The Latino Appearance Standard: The Adoption Of The Latino Appearance

The adoption of the Mexican appearance standard, in future cases referred to as the Latino appearance standard, raises the question of what is Latino appearance. Judicial interpretations of Brignoni-Ponce have never explicitly stated what Latino appearance is. The most likely explanation for this lack of clarity is that courts are wary of judicially defining who is a Latino. If the courts defined what Latino physical appearance is, they could face societal backlash and there is also the problem that the heterogeneous nature of Latinos prevents a precise formulation. Therefore, the question of what is Latino appearance has been left up to government agents in the field. From the actions of these agents it is clear that by Latino appearance the authorities have a specific stereotype in mind. The Border Patrol has interpreted Latino appearance to be synonymous with “dark skin, black hair, brown eyes, and indigenous features, often with a socioeconomic class overlay.” In fact, one profile used by government agents stated that the typical undocumented immigrant will be a: “Mexican male, about 5’5” to 5’8”; dark brown hair; brown eyes; dark complexion; wearing huaraches (foot sandals).” In using these profiles government agents are relying on an incomplete and offensive stereotype of Latino identity.
In promoting the idea that all Latinos are all dark skinned and undocumented, government agents are either consciously or subconsciously invoking a historical stereotype. This historical stereotype depicts all Latinos as being poor, dark skinned, and criminal. Historically people have perceived a correlation between dark skin and criminality. One of the earliest depictions of Latinos was as bandidos (bandits). In fact, t...

... middle of paper ...

...th an almost animal-like connotation. Again it seems improbable that a person of Anglo descent would ever be stopped for having a hungry look or that said phrase would ever be applied to them. Finally, work clothing and bumper caps are the clothes associated with Latino day laborers. All of these other factors cited by agents are just stereotypes or racist descriptions of Latinos. By relying on these stereotypes government agents are eviscerating the distinction made in Brignoni-Ponce, of using Latino appearance as a factor but not the sole factor, because the additional factors they cite are just proxies for being Latino or innocuous factors that would not amount to reasonable suspicion by themselves. The looseness of the Latino appearance standard is allowing agents to use hunches and innuendo to justify stopping people who facially appear to be Latinos.