COLUMBUS (WCMH) – The Ohio Hispanic Coalition said it has seen a recent increase in discrimination against Latinos in Franklin County.

A local family contacted the agency after they said their father was harassed about his legal status while he was trying to help his daughter get a state ID, despite having the proper documents.

“I just needed an ID for a competition I will be in,” said 16-year-old Aleydali Medina.

She’s going to state after winning a regional competition with the Business Professionals of America.

“Hopefully, I will go onto nationals and be a better business person out in the world,” said Medina.

But, while trying to get an Ohio ID card for minors at the BMV on East Broad Street, she said her father was harassed about whether he was a U.S. citizen.

“She just kept asking about my father’s legal status here,” said Medina.

She is a U.S. citizen and her father is a legal resident, with a valid Ohio driver’s license. According to the BMV website, that’s the only ID her father needed to show. Medina said she also had all the proper documents with her to get through the process.

“What really bothers me is that she didn’t have the right to be asking him his legal status and just questions that were unnecessary for a child’s ID,” she said.

Immediately afterward, they said they went to the Alum Creek BMV and had no issues.

“Unfortunately discrimination is still out there, but that’s why I seeked the Ohio Hispanic Coalition for their help because I knew I could count on them,” she said. “If we don’t speak up or seek for help from someone, we’re never going to overcome this.”

Executive director of the Ohio Hispanic Coalition Josué Vicente said they’ve seen an increase in harassment and discrimination across Columbus.

“That’s totally unconstitutional. That’s totally unfair,” he said. “It’s something that we’re expecting to get worse, but at the same time we need to inform the community they have their rights and they have to get as much information as they can so that way we can properly give formal complaints to the departments.”

Medina said her mother was harassed at the gas station just a few days ago.

“My mom wasn’t even paying attention to him and he started yelling all these mean things about her, ‘Go back to your country!’ and we have never seen this before,” she said.

Vicente said they’ve received similar reports including incidents happening at schools, clinics and out in the public.

“We have received one phone call from somebody that was traveling on the COTA and somebody there in the bus they just screamed at him, ‘Hey Mexican, get off the bus! You shouldn’t be using public transportation,'” he said.

NBC4 reached to the BMV, which is looking into the complaint. It has also offered assistance to the Medina family.