Immigration Sweeps on Greyhound & Amtrak

[TBoneTX 45,550]

See question at bottom

---------------------------------------------------------------

Sun, Aug. 14, 2011

Undocumented immigrants face checks on Amtrak, Greyhound

By Sarah Gonzalez

Azucena, a 20-year-old woman from Mexico, is shown inside the Little Havana cosmetology school where she is studying to be a nail technician, Sunday Aug. 14, 2011. Azucena was identified as an undocumented alien while riding a Greyhound bus from Atlanta to Miami, to meet her aunt. As a Greyhound bus prepared to leave a small town near Atlanta, 19-year-old Azucena headed to the window seat on the last row, on her way to Miami to start school and a new life. She propped a pillow against the glass and drifted off to sleep as the bus glided down the highway toward South Florida.

Around 5 a.m., Azucena, who does not want her last name used, woke up when the bus driver pulled up to the Pompano Beach bus station—one stop before her final destination.

Three U.S. Border Patrol agents boarded, announcing they would be checking IDs. She lifted her head to see one agent walking directly toward her.

“It kind of looked like they already knew who they were looking for, because they went straight to the back where I was,” said Azucena, now enrolled in a beauty school in Little Havana.

At that moment, one frightening thought raced through her mind: “Oh my God I’m being deported!"

Azucena spent the next 76 days in a federal immigration center, Broward Transitional Center, becoming one of a fast-growing number of undocumented immigrants caught in what may be the latest crackdown: Grabbing them from public transportation, mainly Greyhound and Amtrak.

Immigration searches on public transportation sites are not well publicized. Border patrol agents generally protect the border or coastline. But, Steve Cribby, spokesperson for U. S. Customs and Border Protection, says agents have the authority to conduct immigration checks in public places. And checks on Greyhound buses and Amtrak are meant to disrupt human smuggling activities into the country’s interior, he said.

The checks are consistent with previous years, he said. Citing law enforcement sensitivity, border patrol officials would not provide figures on apprehensions on public transportation.

But attorneys and others say they have definitely seen an increase.

“I am definitely seeing a large number of people stopped by Greyhound,” said attorney Sara Van Hofwegen, who worked with Azucena to get her deportation order deferred under the proposed DREAM Act, which will provides a path to citizenship for some.

On one recent visit to the BTC in Southwest Broward, Van Hofwegen spoke to 12 detainees. Five of the 12 were apprehended on a Greyhound.

“I’d say Greyhound cases make up about 20 percent of our clients now,’’ said Juliet Williams, an assistant with the law offices of Kantaras & Andreopoulos, with offices in Central Florida. “That is much more than we’ve usually seen.”

She estimates the firm has seen an increase in Greyhound apprehensions of about 25 percent in the past two years.

Between October 2010 and May 2011, immigration agents in Florida arrested around 2,900 undocumented immigrants. That includes arrests made on public transportation, apprehensions through routine highway stops and drug cases.

“We assist local and government officials like [immigration and Customs Enforcement] and the Border Patrol as needed,” said Greyhound spokesperson Bonnie Bastian in an email. “We are unaware of when and why they are at our stations until they arrive.”

As for Amtrak, spokesperson Christina Leeds said the service has a “longstanding relationship” with federal law enforcement agencies.

“Amtrak works closely and cooperates with all federal, state and local” agencies, she said.

Azucena arrived in the United States at age 9, hiding at the feet of passengers in a truck smuggling her family into a Texas border town.

Now, 10 years later, agents were placing her and her two large suitcases in the back of their patrol truck.

“I felt like I was there for something that someone else made a choice for me. That it was not right, but my parents were just trying to do the best they could.”

On that particular day, Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2010, Azucena began crying hysterically on the bus after she handed Border Patrol agents her Mexican passport.

“They were just trying to calm me down. They didn’t even handcuff me… they were just like, “Calm down. Calm down. It’s OK. It’s OK.”

Agents drove Azucena to the BTC, a detention facility reserved for undocumented persons with no criminal convictions.

Most of the 120 women in the center when she arrived were apprehended the same way.

“On a Greyhound,” she said. “The most common was Greyhound.”

Though she’s out with the help of Van Hofwegen, from the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC), Azucena, now 20, is still nervous about the status of her family and herself.

When she was in 10th grade, she was confronted with her illegal status after landing her first job at a Georgia Wendy’s. She never showed because she did not have a social security number.

“I was qualified to get the job and just because I had no social, I couldn’t go,’’ she said. “I felt like I was out of place.”

Guatemalan native Juan Ordones Lima’s immigration status caught up with him when he was traveling back to his family in Homestead in early May after finishing a construction job up north. His Pennsylvania employer had purchased him a Greyhound ticket home.

During a 9 a.m. stop in Jacksonville on May 11, 2011 agents boarded the bus.

Lima, 22, living in Homestead for the past seven years, could not provide proof of legal status. He was brought to the BTC.

That day, some 60 other men showed up to the facility, Lima told his wife.

“He hears people talking that they were caught while driving or being a passenger somewhere,’’ said his wife Eulalia.

As for Azucena, she’s slowly getting her confidence back after five months in school. Following her February release from detention, she was granted a social security number and a two year-work permit.

Now, Azucena said, “I would actually take the Greyhound again. Just so they ask me for my papers and I can [say] ‘here you go.’”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/14/v-print/2359179/undocumented-immigrants-face-checks.html#ixzz1XqfQmG00

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Back "live" now) The question is, if USCs or LPRs are accosted on public transportation (a law-enforcement "contact" situation), can they say "Agent ___, it's nothing personal, but on the advice of my attorney, I don't have to talk with you, nor do I consent to ANY search"?

[Harsh_77 718]

Why is this so big news, they should had done similar search long time back, unfortunately ICE was sleeping.

Similar checks are done in Europe all the time in trains on train stations.

I myself have been asked to show I am legally in the country on the train in Europe.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

See question at bottom

---------------------------------------------------------------

Sun, Aug. 14, 2011

Undocumented immigrants face checks on Amtrak, Greyhound

By Sarah Gonzalez

Azucena, a 20-year-old woman from Mexico, is shown inside the Little Havana cosmetology school where she is studying to be a nail technician, Sunday Aug. 14, 2011. Azucena was identified as an undocumented alien while riding a Greyhound bus from Atlanta to Miami, to meet her aunt. As a Greyhound bus prepared to leave a small town near Atlanta, 19-year-old Azucena headed to the window seat on the last row, on her way to Miami to start school and a new life. She propped a pillow against the glass and drifted off to sleep as the bus glided down the highway toward South Florida.

Around 5 a.m., Azucena, who does not want her last name used, woke up when the bus driver pulled up to the Pompano Beach bus station—one stop before her final destination.

Three U.S. Border Patrol agents boarded, announcing they would be checking IDs. She lifted her head to see one agent walking directly toward her.

“It kind of looked like they already knew who they were looking for, because they went straight to the back where I was,” said Azucena, now enrolled in a beauty school in Little Havana.

At that moment, one frightening thought raced through her mind: “Oh my God I’m being deported!"

Azucena spent the next 76 days in a federal immigration center, Broward Transitional Center, becoming one of a fast-growing number of undocumented immigrants caught in what may be the latest crackdown: Grabbing them from public transportation, mainly Greyhound and Amtrak.

Immigration searches on public transportation sites are not well publicized. Border patrol agents generally protect the border or coastline. But, Steve Cribby, spokesperson for U. S. Customs and Border Protection, says agents have the authority to conduct immigration checks in public places. And checks on Greyhound buses and Amtrak are meant to disrupt human smuggling activities into the country’s interior, he said.

The checks are consistent with previous years, he said. Citing law enforcement sensitivity, border patrol officials would not provide figures on apprehensions on public transportation.

But attorneys and others say they have definitely seen an increase.

“I am definitely seeing a large number of people stopped by Greyhound,” said attorney Sara Van Hofwegen, who worked with Azucena to get her deportation order deferred under the proposed DREAM Act, which will provides a path to citizenship for some.

On one recent visit to the BTC in Southwest Broward, Van Hofwegen spoke to 12 detainees. Five of the 12 were apprehended on a Greyhound.

“I’d say Greyhound cases make up about 20 percent of our clients now,’’ said Juliet Williams, an assistant with the law offices of Kantaras & Andreopoulos, with offices in Central Florida. “That is much more than we’ve usually seen.”

She estimates the firm has seen an increase in Greyhound apprehensions of about 25 percent in the past two years.

Between October 2010 and May 2011, immigration agents in Florida arrested around 2,900 undocumented immigrants. That includes arrests made on public transportation, apprehensions through routine highway stops and drug cases.

“We assist local and government officials like [immigration and Customs Enforcement] and the Border Patrol as needed,” said Greyhound spokesperson Bonnie Bastian in an email. “We are unaware of when and why they are at our stations until they arrive.”

As for Amtrak, spokesperson Christina Leeds said the service has a “longstanding relationship” with federal law enforcement agencies.

“Amtrak works closely and cooperates with all federal, state and local” agencies, she said.

Azucena arrived in the United States at age 9, hiding at the feet of passengers in a truck smuggling her family into a Texas border town.

Now, 10 years later, agents were placing her and her two large suitcases in the back of their patrol truck.

“I felt like I was there for something that someone else made a choice for me. That it was not right, but my parents were just trying to do the best they could.”

On that particular day, Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2010, Azucena began crying hysterically on the bus after she handed Border Patrol agents her Mexican passport.

“They were just trying to calm me down. They didn’t even handcuff me… they were just like, “Calm down. Calm down. It’s OK. It’s OK.”

Agents drove Azucena to the BTC, a detention facility reserved for undocumented persons with no criminal convictions.

Most of the 120 women in the center when she arrived were apprehended the same way.

“On a Greyhound,” she said. “The most common was Greyhound.”

Though she’s out with the help of Van Hofwegen, from the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC), Azucena, now 20, is still nervous about the status of her family and herself.

When she was in 10th grade, she was confronted with her illegal status after landing her first job at a Georgia Wendy’s. She never showed because she did not have a social security number.

“I was qualified to get the job and just because I had no social, I couldn’t go,’’ she said. “I felt like I was out of place.”

Guatemalan native Juan Ordones Lima’s immigration status caught up with him when he was traveling back to his family in Homestead in early May after finishing a construction job up north. His Pennsylvania employer had purchased him a Greyhound ticket home.

During a 9 a.m. stop in Jacksonville on May 11, 2011 agents boarded the bus.

Lima, 22, living in Homestead for the past seven years, could not provide proof of legal status. He was brought to the BTC.

That day, some 60 other men showed up to the facility, Lima told his wife.

“He hears people talking that they were caught while driving or being a passenger somewhere,’’ said his wife Eulalia.

As for Azucena, she’s slowly getting her confidence back after five months in school. Following her February release from detention, she was granted a social security number and a two year-work permit.

Now, Azucena said, “I would actually take the Greyhound again. Just so they ask me for my papers and I can [say] ‘here you go.’”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/14/v-print/2359179/undocumented-immigrants-face-checks.html#ixzz1XqfQmG00

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Back "live" now) The question is, if USCs or LPRs are accosted on public transportation (a law-enforcement "contact" situation), can they say "Agent ___, it's nothing personal, but on the advice of my attorney, I don't have to talk with you, nor do I consent to ANY search"?

Citizens yes, LPR, no, as they have agreed to provide proof of legal presence upon the demand of any lawful authority.

Edited September 13, 2011 by Crusty Old Perv

[slim 1,530]

Azucena, a 20-year-old woman from Mexico,

Following her February release from detention, she was granted a social security number and a two year-work permit.

Why was this criminal granted a social security number and two year-work permit?

I wonder if they handed her a voter registration card as well?

(Back "live" now) The question is, if USCs or LPRs are accosted on public transportation (a law-enforcement "contact" situation), can they say "Agent ___, it's nothing personal, but on the advice of my attorney, I don't have to talk with you, nor do I consent to ANY search"?

But you still have to be identified. You can fight that all day... from the detention center.

[Harsh_77 718]

Why was this criminal granted a social security number and two year-work permit?

I wonder if they handed her a voter registration card as well?

But you still have to be identified. You can fight that all day... from the detention center.

Thanks to DREAMS ACT

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

See question at bottom

---------------------------------------------------------------

Sun, Aug. 14, 2011

Undocumented immigrants face checks on Amtrak, Greyhound

By Sarah Gonzalez

Azucena, a 20-year-old woman from Mexico, is shown inside the Little Havana cosmetology school where she is studying to be a nail technician, Sunday Aug. 14, 2011. Azucena was identified as an undocumented alien while riding a Greyhound bus from Atlanta to Miami, to meet her aunt. As a Greyhound bus prepared to leave a small town near Atlanta, 19-year-old Azucena headed to the window seat on the last row, on her way to Miami to start school and a new life. She propped a pillow against the glass and drifted off to sleep as the bus glided down the highway toward South Florida.

Around 5 a.m., Azucena, who does not want her last name used, woke up when the bus driver pulled up to the Pompano Beach bus station—one stop before her final destination.

Three U.S. Border Patrol agents boarded, announcing they would be checking IDs. She lifted her head to see one agent walking directly toward her.

“It kind of looked like they already knew who they were looking for, because they went straight to the back where I was,” said Azucena, now enrolled in a beauty school in Little Havana.

At that moment, one frightening thought raced through her mind: “Oh my God I’m being deported!"

Azucena spent the next 76 days in a federal immigration center, Broward Transitional Center, becoming one of a fast-growing number of undocumented immigrants caught in what may be the latest crackdown: Grabbing them from public transportation, mainly Greyhound and Amtrak.

Immigration searches on public transportation sites are not well publicized. Border patrol agents generally protect the border or coastline. But, Steve Cribby, spokesperson for U. S. Customs and Border Protection, says agents have the authority to conduct immigration checks in public places. And checks on Greyhound buses and Amtrak are meant to disrupt human smuggling activities into the country’s interior, he said.

The checks are consistent with previous years, he said. Citing law enforcement sensitivity, border patrol officials would not provide figures on apprehensions on public transportation.

But attorneys and others say they have definitely seen an increase.

“I am definitely seeing a large number of people stopped by Greyhound,” said attorney Sara Van Hofwegen, who worked with Azucena to get her deportation order deferred under the proposed DREAM Act, which will provides a path to citizenship for some.

On one recent visit to the BTC in Southwest Broward, Van Hofwegen spoke to 12 detainees. Five of the 12 were apprehended on a Greyhound.

“I’d say Greyhound cases make up about 20 percent of our clients now,’’ said Juliet Williams, an assistant with the law offices of Kantaras & Andreopoulos, with offices in Central Florida. “That is much more than we’ve usually seen.”

She estimates the firm has seen an increase in Greyhound apprehensions of about 25 percent in the past two years.

Between October 2010 and May 2011, immigration agents in Florida arrested around 2,900 undocumented immigrants. That includes arrests made on public transportation, apprehensions through routine highway stops and drug cases.

“We assist local and government officials like [immigration and Customs Enforcement] and the Border Patrol as needed,” said Greyhound spokesperson Bonnie Bastian in an email. “We are unaware of when and why they are at our stations until they arrive.”

As for Amtrak, spokesperson Christina Leeds said the service has a “longstanding relationship” with federal law enforcement agencies.

“Amtrak works closely and cooperates with all federal, state and local” agencies, she said.

Azucena arrived in the United States at age 9, hiding at the feet of passengers in a truck smuggling her family into a Texas border town.

Now, 10 years later, agents were placing her and her two large suitcases in the back of their patrol truck.

“I felt like I was there for something that someone else made a choice for me. That it was not right, but my parents were just trying to do the best they could.”

On that particular day, Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2010, Azucena began crying hysterically on the bus after she handed Border Patrol agents her Mexican passport.

“They were just trying to calm me down. They didn’t even handcuff me… they were just like, “Calm down. Calm down. It’s OK. It’s OK.”

Agents drove Azucena to the BTC, a detention facility reserved for undocumented persons with no criminal convictions.

Most of the 120 women in the center when she arrived were apprehended the same way.

“On a Greyhound,” she said. “The most common was Greyhound.”

Though she’s out with the help of Van Hofwegen, from the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC), Azucena, now 20, is still nervous about the status of her family and herself.

When she was in 10th grade, she was confronted with her illegal status after landing her first job at a Georgia Wendy’s. She never showed because she did not have a social security number.

“I was qualified to get the job and just because I had no social, I couldn’t go,’’ she said. “I felt like I was out of place.”

Guatemalan native Juan Ordones Lima’s immigration status caught up with him when he was traveling back to his family in Homestead in early May after finishing a construction job up north. His Pennsylvania employer had purchased him a Greyhound ticket home.

During a 9 a.m. stop in Jacksonville on May 11, 2011 agents boarded the bus.

Lima, 22, living in Homestead for the past seven years, could not provide proof of legal status. He was brought to the BTC.

That day, some 60 other men showed up to the facility, Lima told his wife.

“He hears people talking that they were caught while driving or being a passenger somewhere,’’ said his wife Eulalia.

As for Azucena, she’s slowly getting her confidence back after five months in school. Following her February release from detention, she was granted a social security number and a two year-work permit.

Now, Azucena said, “I would actually take the Greyhound again. Just so they ask me for my papers and I can [say] ‘here you go.’”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/14/v-print/2359179/undocumented-immigrants-face-checks.html#ixzz1XqfQmG00

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Back "live" now) The question is, if USCs or LPRs are accosted on public transportation (a law-enforcement "contact" situation), can they say "Agent ___, it's nothing personal, but on the advice of my attorney, I don't have to talk with you, nor do I consent to ANY search"?

Hmm, well from the article it seems they are not doing random sweeps but instead already had intelligence on who they are looking for...so I would say no to the question in the title.

As to your question if it was me? I'd tell them my name and address as required by law. I imagine their next question would be "Am I a US citizen?" I would answer Yes and not show any further information...they should leave me alone at that point. They take me in? Great, I'll make myself and a lawyer a few bucks through a lawsuit...probably settle out of court.

My wife? Different Story. I would advise her to do the same except where they ask if she is a US citizen. By law, she then needs to show her greencard.

Edited September 13, 2011 by Sousuke

[Harsh_77 718]

Hmm, well from the article it seems they are not doing random sweeps but instead already had intelligence on who they are looking for...so I would say no to the question in the title.

As to your question if it was me? I'd tell them my name and address as required by law. I imagine their next question would be "Am I a US citizen?" I would answer Yes and not show any further information...they should leave me alone at that point. They take me in? Great, I'll make myself and a lawyer a few bucks through a lawsuit...probably settle out of court.

My wife? Different Story. I would advise her to do the same except where they ask if she is a US citizen. By law, she then needs to show her greencard.

So all USC should make money when they are asked if they are USC or not ?? lol

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

So all USC should make money when they are asked if they are USC or not ?? lol

The head of the USCIS for the San Francisco Bay Area told the new citizens at the Oath Ceremony exactly that. "You are citizens now. You don't have to prove anything to anybody. If a law enforcement officer asks, just tell them, 'I am a US Citizen. I don't have to show you anything.'"

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

So all USC should make money when they are asked if they are USC or not ?? lol

Eh?

[Harsh_77 718]

Eh?

you said you would sue them for taking u in and thus you and your lawyer would make some money.....

[Harsh_77 718]

The head of the USCIS for the San Francisco Bay Area told the new citizens at the Oath Ceremony exactly that. "You are citizens now. You don't have to prove anything to anybody. If a law enforcement officer asks, just tell them, 'I am a US Citizen. I don't have to show you anything.'"

I know there is the great divide about this topic...... but would be interesting if u tried the same trick on an officer pulling u for speeding or if you would say the same thing to TSA agent while trying to get on a flight.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

you said you would sue them for taking u in and thus you and your lawyer would make some money.....

Indeed, as its a violation of my rights per the 4th Amendment and Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court of Nevada, 542 U.S. 177

Nothing to do with US citizenship (other than the fact i'm not bound by law to show a greencard because I am a citizen).

Edited September 13, 2011 by Sousuke

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

I know there is the great divide about this topic...... but would be interesting if u tried the same trick on an officer pulling u for speeding or if you would say the same thing to TSA agent while trying to get on a flight.

In the driving situation you must show a valid driver's license to show you can legally operate the vehicle. Your passengers do not.

Regarding the TSA, you are entering a security area.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I know there is the great divide about this topic...... but would be interesting if u tried the same trick on an officer pulling u for speeding or if you would say the same thing to TSA agent while trying to get on a flight.

Showing an operators permit, or license, along with registration and proof of insurance is a condition of operating a motor vehicle.

As far as TSA, providing identification is a precondition for boarding a flight.

Both actions are optional, therefore you have the discretion not to operate a motor vehicle, or board an airplane. Proof of citizenship is not a requirement to do either.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

Showing an operators permit, or license, along with registration and proof of insurance is a condition of operating a motor vehicle.

As far as TSA, providing identification is a precondition for boarding a flight.

Both actions are optional, therefore you have the discretion not to operate a motor vehicle, or board an airplane. Proof of citizenship is not a requirement to do either.

Except with the TSA its actually not optional once you enter security.If you refuse and turn around and try to leave you can be arrested.