PHOENIX (AP) — Former Arizona Gov. Raul Castro, who in the 1970s served as the state's first and only Hispanic governor, was detained at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint after the vehicle he was traveling in triggered a radiation sensor.
The Arizona Republic reports (http://bit.ly/M7feKq) that Castro was briefly detained June 12 at a checkpoint on Interstate 19 as he was traveling from his home in Nogales, Ariz., to celebrate his 96th birthday in Tucson. The Mexican-born Castro was governor of Arizona from 1974 to 1977.
Castro said agents questioned him outside his vehicle in 100-degree heat. He said he explained to them that he had undergone hospital testing on his pacemaker the previous day, likely triggering the sensor.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials confirmed in an email that they stopped Castro for "a possible trace of radiation" and said its policy requires agents to "identify and resolve all sources of radiation regardless of the circumstances," which officials did in this case.
