For years we have known that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has been has been aggressively conducting transportation raids on Amtrak trains and Greyhound buses many miles away from the border. Back in 2008 we organized with families who were targeted for deportation after riding on Amtrak and Greyhound to hold the travel companies accountable for taking passengers money and not warning them that they may be interrogated, arrested and detained by immigration officials. In 2011, we had a breakthrough in highlighting CBP's unconstitutional practices including engaging in racial profiling and overstepping their jurisdiction, leading to increased deportations and the shattering of many families.
In 2008, Families for Freedom started receiving calls from several New York families who were stopped by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents on the Amtrak or Greyhound bus as they were on their way to their jobs or to visit family in upstate New York and Chicago. Concerned by the significant number of calls, FFF held a rally at New York’s Penn Station on April 2, 2008. We demanded a public apology, full refunds on the apprehended passengers’ fares, among other things.
Most of the families reported that CBP officers would enter the train or bus and only ask people they suspected to be undocumented and/or immigrants for their papers. From their experiences, we felt that CBP was racially profiling people on the train, based on skin color, language, and/or accent. A colleague of ours who is a Caucasian immigrant, said she was not asked for her Green card or passport when CBP boarded.
In partnership with the NYU Law Clinic we decided to file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request so that we could unearth more information about who is getting apprehended on the trains and buses upstate and how CBP tactics implies significant racial profiling by the agency.
In July 2010, we received information from the FOIA request about the apprehensions from FY2006 – FY2009. With this released information our partners at the NYU Law Clinic started working with the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) to process the data. They realized that this data did not discuss the standards CBP used during their apprehensions on Amtrak and Greyhound, and we decided to re-appeal to obtain more detailed information.
The complaint was filed on March 26, 2011 and in June 2011 we received notice that a Judge ordered CBP to provide more information. With the information that was released we along with the NYCLU, and NYU Law Clinic released a report entitled Justice Derailed in November 2011. This report is the first-ever in-depth examination of the Border Patrol’s transportation raids in upstate New York. It paints a disturbing picture of an agency resorting to aggressive policing tactics in order to increase arrest rates, without regard for the costs and consequences of its practices on New Yorkers’ rights and freedoms. These CBP's “transportation raids” occur many miles from the Canadian border or any point of entry into the United States. The Border Patrol’s aggressive and bias tactics have little to do with protecting the border. They tear apart our families and our communities miles away from the border. They undermine the safety of immigrant communities and instill fear by detaining people who were stopped and arrested while going about their everyday lives.
The report concludes with a set of recommendations to address the problems outlined in it:
- CBP should end its practice of raids on domestic trains and buses.
- To the extent that CBP continues to engage in interior enforcement operations, it should ensure that it does so only in situations involving specific suspicion of unlawful activity, with proper constitutional and procedural protections in place.
- CBP should discontinue any use of arrest-based performance measures. CBP should re-evaluate its policy of nearly universal detention of individuals.
- State and local police should refrain from enforcing federal immigration laws, including by engaging in interior enforcement operations with Border Patrol agents and requesting translation assistance from Border Patrol.
- The governor and attorney general of New York should monitor CBP’s interior operations to ensure that the rights of New York residents are protected.
- Congress and DHS should improve oversight and accountability with respect to transportation raids.
This report got lots of great press:
NY Immigration Advocates Say Upstate Border Control Abusing Power
New Report Shows Racial Profiling New York Canada Border
This report brought these issues of aggressive policing and racial profiling to the general public. Following the release of the report we filed a summary judgement stating that the CBP has not released adequate information. The Judge sided with us and declared that we can pursue discovery of further information.
Judge CBP Must Release Immigration Enforcement Stats
US Border Patrol Must Release Arrest Statistics Investigation Racial Profiling
If you were stopped by CBP and would like to share your story, please contact us.