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Standing Up for Immigrant and Refugee
Rights in the U.S. Resistance to Border Patrol Profiling and SearchesPeople being unjustly profiled by U.S. Border Patrol agents who board buses and demand citizenship papers are resisting and taking stands to defend their rights and the rights of all those being profiled, harassed and, in some instances, detained. People are not required to carry proof of citizenship when travelling, unless they are crossing the border. But Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as well as Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) are arbitrarily boarding buses and demanding proof of citizenship. They are doing so based on racist profiling, targetting any they decide appear to be immigrants. The actions often take place on buses and trains leaving New York City and travelling to Syracuse and Rochester, as well as on buses travelling from Philadelphia through Pennsylvania. New England states are also being impacted, as is Washington state. As one person profiled put it: "I was super angry because [they were] obviously profiling." She is Puerto Rican and a U.S. citizen. "They literally skipped over every single white person." She watched agents walk down the aisles, stopping only when they saw a person of colour, to ask: "Are you from here? Do you have papers?" Bus and train travellers across the northern U.S. report being stopped, questioned and detained with increasing frequency. Advocates emphasize that the searches are illegal. Passengers cannot be detained and questioned by CBP agents without reasonable suspicion that they are reportable, and that suspicion cannot be based on someone's skin colour or ability to speak English or failure to have documentation with them, given they are not crossing the border. These illegal searches are now happening as often as three times a day at some northern bus stations, even those with no direct routes to the border. They have caused bus delays and missed connections and have resulted in the long-term detention of immigrants who have committed no crime and were racially profiled and detained. Under immigration law, agents have the authority to search vehicles without a warrant "within a reasonable distance from any external boundary of the United States." CBP claims this is anywhere within 100 miles of any land or water border. That massive zone encompasses areas that hold more than half of the U.S. population, all of the east and west coast and areas that include all of New England, Florida and most of New York state. The buses are often hundreds of miles from the northern or southern border, yet CBP agents are involved. It is along the northern border that the bulk of the board and search actions have occurred. Given the broad rejection of these illegal activities by passengers -- citizens and non-citizens alike -- even Greyhound, the country's largest bus company, has complained to the government. According to incidents reported to advocates or described in court documents, in Vermont, Florida, California, Detroit, Rochester, Spokane and elsewhere, agents have boarded buses and asked passengers where they were born or to see their papers. Passengers have filmed or photographed some of these interactions as part of their resistance, sparking outrage and opposition online. Their efforts show CBP grilling citizens, green card holders and DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] recipients -- in some cases detaining citizens and documented immigrants, claiming their documentation was fake. The continued opposition and broad stand of the people
against
racist government profiling and unjust searches and detention are
an important part of ongoing efforts to defend the rights of
all. (Voice of Revolution)
This article was published in Article Link:   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
