Texas Home Depot employee asks Hispanic veteran for his 'Mexico ID'

CORPUS CHRISTI — A South Texas woman's Facebook post about what she called a racist incident at a Home Depot has gone viral.

On June 3, Christina Borden posted an out-of-focus photo of an employee working at Home Depot on Port Avenue in Corpus Christi along with her story of an experience her mother's boyfriend had at the store.

The post has been shared more than 550 times and has more than 300 comments.

Borden states that when the Hispanic veteran attempted to return an item at the store, a woman asked him for "his Mexico ID." The man left the store to retrieve his identification and told Borden's mother what happened.

The couple returned to the store and confronted a manager.

"The manager pulled the cashier to the side along with them and she admitted that she said that to him and the manager made her apologize to him," Borden wrote to the Caller-Times through Facebook messenger.

In the Facebook post, Borden claims that after the employee apologized to the veteran, she was assigned to a different register.

"Once she switched registers, she started telling her co-workers about the situation & they were laughing. Something OTHER than (an) apology needs to be done... I want the world to see who this racist female is that way people will see her & judge her the way she did to my mom’s boyfriend," Borden's post reads.

Emilio Elizondo, the store's manager, told the Caller-Times he could not comment on the incident or give any details about the disciplinary action the employee received.

"All I can say is action was taken and a claim was filed," Elizondo said.

Elizondo said the incident is being investigated through a process the company follows.

He said the woman accused is a new employee and was still employed by Home Depot as of Friday.

The Caller-Times attempted to make contact with the man from the incident, but Borden did not reply to messages after 10 a.m. Friday.

Borden said that she considered deleting the post a few days after the incident, but after reading comments on the post by employees at the store, she changed her mind.

"I posted this because a simple apology that was forced is not enough. The company needs to review how their employees speak to the customers, no matter what nationality they presume to be," she told the Caller-Times.

Later Friday, she deleted the post.

While most Facebook users who commented on the post are motioning for the employee to be fired because of the accusations on social media, her coworkers quickly stepped in.

Several Facebook users, who have Home Depot listed as their employer, have defended the woman in the photo. They argue that the woman is "sweet and would never say such things."

Facebook user Joshua Guy-Williams commented on the post he was tagged in to say "he heard the whole story."

Guy-Williams said "she asked the guy for his ID and he didn't have it and so she asked for another (form) of identification and the guy got mad and said that (the woman) thought he was an immigrant."

Borden said she has attempted to contact Home Depot by email and will continue to do so.

"Now I want corporate to see their employees and how they are (all) speaking to not just me, but others on here as well. In my line of work, no matter what the story may be, we are not allowed to comment or hate talk on social media. Maybe Home Depot needs to do the same."

"(He) did his duty for this country (and) this is the thanks that he gets?" Borden wrote. "He isn’t just another random guy, he served his country and doesn’t deserve to be discriminated because of the color of his skin."

Follow Monica Lopez on Twitter @CallerMonica

WPXI