A woman in Rancho Mirage, California, approached a landscaper at her apartment complex and demanded, “Show me your papers.”
The landscaper, Juan Andrade, told NBC Palm Springs it’s not the first time the woman has harassed him, but this time he decided to film it.
“Like any other complex I was just doing the work for all of them, mowing the lawn. I passed by her apartment and when I turned around to do the second round that’s when I saw her standing,” Andrade said.
In the video, the woman can be seen blowing Andrade a kiss before walking over and standing directly in front of him.
“Can you move? I”m doing my work.” Andrade tells her. “Can you stay away? You’re too close to me right now, and you’re not wearing a mask.”
“Show me your papers,” the woman says. “I wanna see your papers.”
Andrade said the same woman previously told him to “go back to his country.” He has reported the incident to his employer and plans to avoid the area.
“When she was harassing me, I started to feel mad because I was just doing my work,” Andrade said. “Based on what i have seen from her, i think she thinks she didn’t do anything wrong. She believes she’s in the right, so I don’t think she’ll ever apologize.”
On his popular Instagram account “Karens Going Wilds,” activist Pavel Paulinich sought assistance in identifying the woman, whom he called “Rancho Mirage Karen.” Paulinich also shared a quotation from an immigration attorney who told NBC Palm Springs: “Unless you are law enforcement, but aside from that, they are using that conversation as just another way to intimidate and create objects out of human beings who appear to be different from them.”
Watch the station’s report below.
