January 29, 2026
When tacos meet checkpoints
Taco writer detained–briefly–by feds
Three stops, no ticket: border detours spark profiling debate and taco memes
TLDR: A Texas Monthly taco editor says he was stopped three times by West Texas authorities and briefly held by federal agents, sparking confusion over who was involved. Commenters split between profiling worries, surveillance-camera theories, and memes—raising bigger questions about civil liberties and border policing culture.
A road trip to old mission sites turned sour for Texas Monthly’s taco editor José Ralat, who says he and a friend were stopped three times in West Texas—once for going 5 mph over, once by a white “U.S. Customs Enforcement” truck, and once by a state trooper—without a single ticket. Ralat told the Big Bend Sentinel the stops felt coordinated; he wrote a rattled recap for Texas Monthly. The federal stop reportedly kept them waiting about 30 minutes. The outlet notes the agents weren’t technically ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), but still federal—fueling confusion and nerves.
Cue the comment section fireworks. One poster seized on Ralat’s line about wondering if his brown skin played a role—then jabbed that all the officers were Hispanic—labeling the whole thing “concern trolling.” Surveillance sleuths chimed in with a chilly question: was “Flock” in play? (That’s a brand of license-plate cameras some towns use.) Others kept it spicy with jokes: a cryptic meme about not saying the word “taco,” a cheeky misread of “taco writer,” and a darkly funny remix—“First they came for the taco trucks…” The thread split between civil liberties alarms, mundane explanations (routine border policing, scanners, bad luck), and meme-fueled disbelief. In other words: West Texas checks meet internet hot sauce—and everyone’s lips are burning.
Key Points
- •Texas Monthly editor José Ralat and a companion were stopped three times by law enforcement during a reporting trip in the Big Bend region.
- •The first stop, near Sanderson by a Terrell County deputy, cited a 5 mph speeding overage; the deputy requested IDs but not insurance.
- •A second stop near Presidio by agents in a truck labeled “U.S. Customs Enforcement” involved questioning about travel plans and a roughly 30-minute wait.
- •A third stop by a Texas DPS trooper occurred north of the Border Patrol checkpoint south of Marfa; again, no insurance was requested.
- •The Big Bend Sentinel noted the distinction between ICE and other federal agents and said it will monitor law enforcement types amid heightened attention to immigration enforcement.