Source: NBC
Bus and train travelers have been encountering random checks for citizenship and documentation by Border Patrol agents across the northern U.S., according to NBC.
According to records obtained by the ACLU, “a Border Patrol official in Maine told agents they were ready to begin boarding buses and wished them ‘Happy hunting!’”
The ACLU has been spreading awareness of that act as being unconstitutional, referencing the Fourth Amendment, which protects people against “unreasonable searches,” meaning they can only be searched if there is reasonable suspicion that they are deportable. But in these cases, Border Patrol agents are assessing people purely based on their skin color or ability to speak English.
In several cases, the racial profiling has resulted in the long-term detention of immigrants for no reason.
Because Border Patrol agents are allowed to search cars without warrants within a certain area of the U.S. border, they’ve been searching busses and trains within a 100-mile range of the border, which NBC reports holds nearly half of the country’s population.
NBC reports that the “Border Patrol views its ability to board trains, buses and other transport dozens of miles from the border as crucial in its fight against smuggling and terrorism.”
Read Full Story: NBC