A scene unfolded at a Target store in Los Angeles, California, after a Karen, seemingly triggered by a Latino mother simply looking at her, began making remarks questioning her nationality and even threatened to call ICE on her.
The video, posted on Reddit, captured the exchange between the two women.“I’m an American, lady,” an older woman whose skin was noticeably tanned could be heard telling a younger woman. “I’m an American citizen too,” the Hispanic woman fired back. The younger woman explained the situation to someone behind the camera in Spanish, saying, “She said she was going to call ICE on me because I spoke Spanish, yet here she is talking Spanish to me too its ridiculous. I was just minding my own business when she started picking a fight.”
The older woman continued escalating the situation, saying, “You got your papers; I was born here!” She repeatedly emphasized that she was “American-made.” The younger woman, now visibly tense, also stressed that she was American and told the older woman to go ahead and call ICE, insisting that the confrontation had been started by her. Meanwhile, the older woman laughed throughout the exchange as the younger woman eventually walked away with a young boy.
The comment section quickly filled with reactions, as users dissected and criticized the encounter. “I’m still confused about her race. I thought she looked Indigenous at first, but an Indigenous person wouldn’t be siding with ICE. Does this lady buy self-tanner by the bucket and apply it by soaking in a bathtub?” one user wrote. Another added humorously, “If she calls ICE, they’ll deport her without even asking her for her ID because her skin looks darker. 😂 She doesn’t like brown people but she’s desperately trying to look like them.”
Someone pointed out a firm fact, writing, “It is not illegal to speak Spanish in the United States.” A netizen highlighted the insensitivity of the exchange, stating, “How rude of a woman to question someone’s status in a climate like this.”
Another commenter made an observation on the elderly woman’s behavior. “And the ever-present sign of low intelligence, a repeated short phrase. ‘I was born here…I was born here… I was born here…I was born here,'” they wrote. Someone else noted the irony of the situation, “They don’t like Brown people, but they pay $$ and spend time to look like Brown people.”
Another commenter mocked the logic behind the statements, writing, “The old lady thinks she’s got immunity from ICE because she was born here. It’s a joke.” A user suggested jealousy might be at play: “She’s just upset the beautiful Latina speaks 2 languages, and she barely speaks one.” “Minorities [Expletive] with other minorities was the plan all along,” one commenter stated bluntly.
Another painted a broader picture, saying, “Imagine this lady thinking she’s in with the White supremacists she worships.” One final commenter reflected on the unpredictability of such confrontations, writing, “She may have been born in America, but if ICE was there, they’d be asking to see both their papers. I don’t know why people feel the need to act like this toward others.”
