Hertz Refused to Rent to Puerto Rican Customer, Apologizes

Hertz has issued an apology for turning away a U.S. citizen at one of its car rental locations, claiming the customer was required to show a U.S. passport. A Hertz worker denied Humberto Marchand’s reservation at the Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans, Louisiana, after demanding Marchand show his passport, despite his Puerto Rican driver’s license being a valid ID according to Hertz’s own policies.

Marchand is an American citizen from Puerto Rico, which has been a U.S. territory since 1917 (although those born after 1898 were then granted U.S. citizenship) and boasts representation in Congress. He was traveling to New Orleans — officially considered domestic travel — and had paid for a Hertz car rental at the Armstrong airport in advance.

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Marchand showed the clerk at the rental counter his driver’s license, which contains Spanish and English text since both are the official languages in Puerto Rico. What followed was a tense exchange between the traveler, Hertz employee and a Kenner police officer, who reportedly threatened to call Border Patrol...on a U.S. citizen.

CBS Correspondent David Begnaud breaks down the encounter, which was partially captured on camera by the spurned traveler, Humberto Marchand:

In the footage, we see the Hertz employee demand that Marchand present his U.S. passport. The request assumes Marchand was a foreign national rather than a U.S. citizen, and not only was the Hertz employee operating under an incorrect assumption, but she was also in violation of Hertz’s own terms, which state that a Puerto Rican driver’s license, is a valid form of I.D.

Marchand repeatedly told the worker this, but the Hertz employee asked if he would like her to call the police. Marchand said yes, please, and Kenner police arrived on the scene; the officer who spoke with Marchand turned off his body-worn camera at some point during or after the exchange, but Marchand insists the officer threatened to call Border Patrol and have him removed.