Don’t Get On the Bus: ICE Raids Greyhound and Amtrak

Seth Wessler

Don’t Get On the Bus: ICE Raids Greyhound and Amtrak

If you’re an immigrant, or look like you could be one, you might think twice before buying an Amtrak or Greyhound ticket in Upstate New York. The two companies are collaborating with ICE, allowing officials onto their busses and trains without notifying riders before they purchase tickets. Passengers have reported that officers profile Latinos and have taken families with children off buses, sending some riders to detention and into deportation proceedings.

In New York City this week, families and immigrants rights activists gathered outside of Penn Station and marched to Port Authority to protest the practice. The protest was organized by Families for Freedom, a multi-racial organization defending immigrants against deportation. The protest highlighted that the practice denies immigrants fundamental rights.

While ICE claims to be carrying out border patrol, the buses and trains are not crossing the border but traveling within the United States, effectively “bringing the border to you.” The transportation raids are a prime example of what Roberto Lovato recently described as the use of “immigrants to build up government policing and military capabilities (that) is, in fact, a standard practice of the art of statecraft.”

The transportation raids move this project forward, denying immigrants fundamental rights: freedom of movement and travel guaranteed by article 4; equal protection, enshrined by the 14th amendment, by racially profiling immigrant passengers; and, 1st amendment freedom of assembly. The buttressing of state power is achieved more and more through the denial of immigrant’s basic rights as they are made the centerpiece of enforcement policies.

Needless to say, hitchhiking might just be safest way to get around these days.

Posted at 1:56 PM, Apr 04, 2008 in Immigration | Permalink | View Comments

Comments

They are not looking out for all those Canadians (including friends of mine) who don't have their papers but are working in the US. Sounds like profiling to me...or maybe Canadians are okay, just not Mexicans. Crazy.

Let me add that this is not just about Latinos. I think anyone whom they perceive as "foreign" is suspect. This precise thing happened with my African mother-in-law. I believe they were tipped off by her accent.

I agree with both of your comments. As you both suggest, ICE policy illuminates the racism inherent in immigration enforcement; indeed, enforcement only gains legitimacy because those who are targeted are people of color who are labeled 'dangerous invaders,' 'terrorists' or 'leaches'. Immigrants are being rounded up, detained and deported but those who get targeted are immigrants of color. This is why when we talk about immigration we have to talk about race and racism.

For purposes of comparison, in 2005 the United States deported 144,840 Mexicans. That year the number of Canadians deported was 963. In other words, the US deported 150 times as many Mexicans as Canadians.