One Woman Who Knew Her Rights Forced Border Patrol off a Greyhound Bus

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> Date: June 14, 2018 at 4:33:33 AM GMT+9
> To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] One Woman Who Knew Her Rights Forced Border Patrol off a Greyhound Bus
> Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com
>
> One Woman Who Knew Her Rights Forced Border Patrol off a Greyhound Bus
> How a single voice of courage may have stopped an illegal Border Patrol raid.
> By Mitra Ebadolahi, Border Litigation Project Staff Attorney, ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties
> Jun 13 2018
> <https://medium.com/aclu/one-woman-who-knew-her-rights-forced-border-patrol-off-a-greyhound-bus-c9f5c6275588>
>
> On June 7, Tiana Smalls, whose Facebook profile describes her as owner of Fire Flower Beauty Company, was riding a 
> Greyhound bus from Bakersfield, California to Las Vegas, Nevada. As the bus approached an agricultural checkpoint at 
> the Nevada state line, Ms. Smalls said the driver made an unusual announcement: “We are being boarded by Border 
> Patrol. Please be prepared to show your documentation upon request.”
>
> Ms. Smalls immediately reacted. According to a description she posted on Facebook, she stood up and loudly said, 
> “This is a violation of your Fourth Amendment rights. You don’t have to show them *shit*!!!” She then used Google 
> Translate to repeat her message in Spanish, reassuring the Spanish-speaking woman sitting beside her and probably 
> countless other fellow passengers.
>
> Border Patrol agents boarded the bus and started to ask the passengers for their “documentation.” Ms. Smalls stood up 
> again and shouted, “You have NO RIGHT to ask me for anything! This is harassment and racial profiling! We are not 
> within 100 miles of a border so [these agents] have no legal right or jurisdiction here!”
>
> Ms. Smalls’ simple and courageous act of resistance was enough. The Border Patrol agents, realizing that they would 
> face an uphill battle, immediately retreated, telling the driver to continue on.
>
> U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials claim sweeping authority to operate in the interior of the United 
> States. Their basis for doing so is a federal statute that purports to allow CBP officers to undertake certain 
> enforcement activities without a warrant “within a reasonable distance from any external boundary of the United 
> States.” A federal regulation adopted in 1953 inexplicably defines a “reasonable distance” as up to 100 air miles 
> from any external boundary of the United States — an area that sweeps up nearly two-thirds of the U.S. population 
> (200 million people), nine of our 10 largest cities, and several entire states (including Florida, Maine, 
> Massachusetts, and New Jersey). And still CBP cheats its way to more interior encroachment, for example, by claiming 
> that the Great Lakes shared with Canada are “functional equivalents of the border” so that all of Michigan and 
> Chicago are in its reach.
>
> CBP often overlooks basic civics in making this power grab, however. No act of Congress can authorize a violation of 
> the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land.
>
> In general, the Fourth Amendment allows law enforcement to enter business areas that are open to the public. In 
> nonpublic areas, however, law enforcement officers must have a warrant, consent, or “exigent circumstances” for their 
> entry to be constitutional. Because you need a ticket to board a Greyhound bus, these are nonpublic areas. In a 
> recent letter to Greyhound’s general counsel, the ACLU explained that Greyhound is not obligated to consent to the 
> Border Patrol’s warrantless and unjustified raids on its buses.
>
> Since Trump took office, CBP activity far from our actual borders has increasedsignificantly. ACLU affiliates in 
> Washington, California, Arizona, Michigan, New York, Vermont, and Florida have reported multiple incidents involving 
> Border Patrol agents boarding Greyhound buses without a warrant or consent, and terrorizing passengers by demanding 
> their papers. These reports indicate that Border Patrol agents routinely engage in racial and ethnic profiling, 
> singling people out for the color of their skin or accents.
>
> We live in dark times. Many people want to stand up for their own rights and the rights of others, but feel unsure 
> about how. Ms. Smalls’ experience, like that of two brave women in Montana last month, teaches us that sometimes 
> knowing one’s rights and speaking out with confidence delivers truth to abusive power.
>
> [snip]
>
> Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: http://dewaynenet.wordpress.com/feed/
> Twitter: https://twitter.com/wa8dzp



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