Greyhound is asked to adopt sanctuary-like policy.
ACLU demands end to passenger interrogations without warrants
U.S. Border Patrol agents have been boarding Greyhound buses and questioning passengers in their attempts to crack down on illegal immigration, and a prominent civil rights organization wants to put a damper on the practice.
In a letter to Greyhound last week, the American Civil Liberties Union asked the company to adopt what might be described as a sanctuary policy, denying immigration agents entrance to its buses unless they have a judicial warrant for a specific passenger.
The company “should not be in the business of subjecting its passengers to intimidating interrogations, suspicionless searches, warrantless arrests, and the threat of deportation,” ACLU chapters in California and nine other states said in the letter to officials of Greyhound Lines in Dallas.
The letter was prompted by several incidents on Greyhound premises or buses in recent months, including at least two in California. In January, Border Patrol agents boarded a Greyhound bus in Indio (Riverside County) and asked every passenger for proof of citizenship, the ACLU said.
In February, the ACLU said, agents boarded another Greyhound bus in Indio and seized a passenger as he was boarding. They questioned him and held him for possible deportation, explaining afterward that they singled him out because his shoes looked “suspicious,” as if he had just crossed the border.
In response to the ACLU’s letter, Greyhound said in a statement that it understood the concerns of the ACLU and bus passengers but said it “is required to comply with the law.” The company cited federal laws allowing immigration officers within 100 miles of the border to enter and search any vehicle “to prevent the illegal entry of aliens into the United States,” and to detain individuals, without a warrant, based on a “reasonable suspicion” that they were illegally in the country.
“We are aware that routine transportation checks not only affect our operations, but our cus-
“We bus passengers are hoping ... to that inform they have the right to remain silent and decline a search of their possessions.” Eva Bitran ACLU lawyer
tomers’ travel experience, and we will continue to do everything legally possible to minimize any negative experiences,” the company said. “Greyhound has opened a dialogue with the Border Patrol to see if there is anything that can be done to balance the enforcement of federal law with the dignity and privacy of our valued customers.”
The ACLU said something can be done: Remind federal agents of the rights of Greyhound and its passengers under the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment, which generally requires officers to obtain a warrant, based on probable cause of wrongdoing, before seizing anyone.
“Greyhound has a Fourth Amendment right to deny (the Border Patrol) permission to board and search its buses without a judicial warrant,” the ACLU said in its letter. “We urge Greyhound to change its policy.”
Waiting in the bus station in Oakland for a ride home to Fresno on Tuesday, Shaoyu Pei, an international student and F1 visa holder, said he sided with the ACLU.
Pei, 26, said it would be “crazy” if federal agents boarded a bus to search for undocumented immigrants.
“I would not feel comfortable with that,” he said. “That would make me angry.”
He said he sometimes likes to sleep on the bus or read a book and the sudden presence of a federal agent would be jarring.
“I don’t want to be searched on the bus,” Pei said. “Sometimes I may not take my passport.” It would be difficult to explain his student visa situation in a tense moment like that, he said.
For Michael Tan, 21, of Oakland, the ability of federal agents to search Greyhound passengers without a warrant felt like an “invasion of privacy.”
Greyhound “is a method of traveling,” he said as he waited to board a bus to Las Vegas. “People don’t use Greyhound because they want to, they use Greyhound because they have to.”
His friend and fellow traveler, Janelle Abela, 21, of Berkeley, chimed in, “Not only invade our privacy, but disrupt our travel.”
The limits of compelled cooperation with immigration enforcement are being tested in federal courts in Sacramento and San Francisco, where the Trump administration is challenging “sanctuary” laws of the state and local governments that restrict federal agents’ access to local jails and workplaces without a judicial warrant.
Eva Bitran, a lawyer with the ACLU of Southern California, said this week that the organization wasn’t asking Greyhound to act as an immigration “sanctuary,” but was calling on the company not to be an enabler of constitutional violations. She said she wasn’t sure whether other carriers followed the same policy, but Greyhound was the one “where we’ve heard the most reports of agents on buses.”
Besides encouraging carriers to invoke their constitutional rights, Bitran said, “We are hoping to inform bus passengers (who are confronted by agents) that they have the right to remain silent and decline a search of their possessions.” Although the atmosphere may be “very coercive,” she said, passengers can’t be legally arrested for asserting their rights.
Kamryn Bauersfeld, 19, of Santa Barbara, who was waiting to board a Greyhound from Oakland to San Francisco on Tuesday, indicated she hoped that Greyhound would comply with the ACLU’s request.
“It’s terrifying to have an authority figure treating everyone like they did something wrong,” Bauersfeld said. “Everyone on that bus is just living their lives. I hope we’d be better in California to really respect people.”