‘Speak English in America’: Nevada Seller Threatens ICE ‘Bounty’ on Hispanic Women Who Wouldn’t Buy His Car
"Speak English in America."
A man in Las Vegas, Nevada, threatened to report a Hispanic woman and her friends to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after she declined to buy the car he’d listed on Facebook Marketplace. According to The Nerd Stash, footage posted to Instagram shows the seller filming the exchange himself while questioning why the woman was speaking Spanish.
He can be heard telling her, “Speak English in America. The official language is English,” as she continued replying in Spanish. When he spotted another person seated in the back of her car, he turned toward his companion and mentioned a $500-per-head payout, framing it as money he’d collect for reporting each occupant to immigration authorities.
The woman eventually responded in English and mentioned she worked locally as a social media influencer. The seller responded by pointing to her modest follower count. Text overlaid on her own recording cautioned other Marketplace users in the area about the listing, describing the encounter as racially motivated. While she filmed, he walked up behind her and made a crude gesture toward the lens.
What Nevada and Federal Law Say About This Situation
She continued moving around the car to look it over, but the man blocked her path and said he would knock the phone from her hand if she got closer. Nevada’s extortion statute, NRS 205.320, criminalizes threatening another person with intent to coerce or compel them. Las Vegas defense attorneys specifically cite threatening to report someone to ICE as an example of this crime, regardless of whether the person ever follows through.
Under NRS 200.471, Nevada defines assault as intentionally placing someone in reasonable fear of immediate harm. No physical contact is required for the charge to apply. If investigators determined the confrontation was motivated by the women’s ethnicity, Nevada law allows for a sentencing enhancement under NRS 193.1675. That can add up to 20 years to whatever underlying charge applies, provided prosecutors can show the protected characteristic was the primary reason for the conduct.
Under 42 U.S.C. § 1981, individuals and businesses are barred from refusing to complete a contract with someone because of their race. Courts have applied that protection to everyday retail and consumer transactions between private parties, not only formal commercial settings.
Nevada’s own public accommodation law, NRS 651.070, covers similar ground. It’s written to apply to established businesses like hotels, restaurants, and casinos, though, so a private individual selling a personal vehicle likely wouldn’t fall within its scope. That’s part of why the federal statute is the more relevant protection here. If the seller actually went through with reporting anyone to federal immigration authorities knowing the claim to be false, that could separately implicate 18 U.S.C. § 1001.
That’s the federal law criminalizing knowingly false statements made to a federal agency.
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