Greyhound has finally—finally—announced it will block Customs and Border Protection agents from boarding its buses to conduct immigration checks unless they have a warrant, saying that the company will inform federal immigration officials that "we do not consent to warrantless searches on our buses and in terminal areas that are not open to the general public," CNN reports.
While immigrant and civil rights advocates have been pushing for this change for years, it comes just days after the AP reported on a CBP memo that confirmed “the legal position that Greyhound’s critics have taken: that the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment prevents agents from boarding buses and questioning passengers without a warrant or the consent of the company.”
As Daily Kos has previously noted, the harassment of Greyhound passengers by border agents isn’t new, but federal immigration agents have felt emboldened under the Trump administration. Incidents of agents boarding Greyhound buses to harass customers have included the interrogation of a man here legally that ended only when he threatened to call his attorney; the detention of a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipient traveling with his dad; and a man harassed about his immigration status “because his ‘shoes looked suspicious,’ like someone who had recently crossed the border,” American Civil Liberties Union affiliates said in calling on the bus company to protect its customers in 2018.
“The common thread in the reports received by the ACLU of Michigan is that CBP agents operating on Greyhound buses focus on persons of color and never give passengers a reason for the stop,” they continued in their letter to Greyhound. “Indeed, CBP data obtained by the ACLU shows not only that 82% of foreign citizens stopped by CBP in Michigan are Latino, but also that almost one in three of those processed are U.S. citizens. This data strongly suggests that CBP is using ethnicity as the basis for its stops.”
That same year, the company was sued by Rocío Córdova, a U.S. citizen who in 2017 was riding a Phoenix-bound bus that was pulled over by agents in California. “The complaint included several videos, reports and statements by passengers of ‘coercive scenes’ of armed officers blocking ‘narrow bus aisles, singling out passengers of color by hovering over them and accusing many of being ‘illegal,’” The Washington Post reported at the time.
Greyhound representatives claimed that the company was legally required to cooperate with searches, and even after the AP’s report, initially “declined to say whether it would change that practice.” CNN reports that Greyhound will now “give its drivers and employees updated training in response to the policy change … and put stickers on its buses making its position clear.” Trainings and stickers are a start but when some agents lie in order to gain access to homes to separate families, it’s going to take vigilance from Greyhound to ensure customers are protected from harassment.
“We are pleased to see Greyhound clearly communicate that it does not consent to racial profiling and harassment on its buses," deputy director of policy for the ACLU's Equality Division Andrea Flores said in a statement. “By protecting its customers and employees, Greyhound is sending a message that it prioritizes the communities it serves.”