One doesn’t need to be in Arizona to be hassled by federal immigration authorities, they’re more than happy to oblige right here in in New York. A Times reporter riding Amtrak from NYC to Buffalo witnessed it firsthand when Border Patrol agents asked her if she was a U.S. citizen on a train that wasn’t even crossing any international borders. Evidently, this is a common process and while passengers can decline to answer, they better do so in perfect English or their silence can possibly be used against them.
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Arizona-Style Immigration Enforcement Outside of Arizona
By Bucky Turco |
2 Responses to “Arizona-Style Immigration Enforcement Outside of Arizona”
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlgtbEdqVsk
This happened to me on a bus trip booked on Greyhound, going from Ann Arbor, MI to Marquette, MI. After crossing into the Upper Peninsula, we stopped at a bus station late at night to transfer to another bus. Before we could get off, two officers came on the bus and started asking people question, blocking the way off. With one agent looking on, the other asked me where I was coming from, where I was going, why I was going there, if I'm a U.S. citizen, where I was born, and when I became a U.S. citizen. I was asked what I do for a living. When I told them I was a photographer, I was asked where my camera was.
After I got off the bus, and was waiting at the station for the transfer, they came into the station and the officer that watched me answer the questions on the bus began asking me most of the same questions I already answered and wanted to see my ID again. They seemed to take a particular interest in me over the other passengers. I can only assume either because of the way I looked or because I wasn't born in this country as my other answers and behavior seemed to me to be routine.