Pro-Immigration Protesters Rally Against Greyhound Bus Lines
Posted: Feb 5, 2010 10:34 AM CST

Protesters gather outside the Greyhound Bus station in Indio

By Eddie Quezada
equezada@kesq.com

INDIO - A pro-immigration group is protesting the largest bus company in America.

Border Angels claims Greyhound is cooperating with immigration customs enforcement and the U.S. Border Patrol to interrogate passengers getting off the bus.

"We thought it was important to come to Indio because what's happening here is happening in other cities across the country," said Enrique Morones of Border Angels. "The border patrol and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) are cooperating with Greyhound. That's unacceptable. People should be able to have the right to travel across the country freely."

Thursday, to get the word out, they held a protest outside the local bus stop in Indio.

"They should be on the border doing their job," said Morones. "They shouldn't be intimidating the grandmother that wants to visit her grandchild for the first time, or the father that's going across the country because his son is graduating from college."

Greyhound has released a statement saying they are not notified when federal agents visit their terminals.

"If I'm going to buy a house then it's expected that I'd be able to prove who I am, my financial records et cetera, but to travel?" asked protester Michelle Krug. "That's just a right, and the fact that it's being couched, the racism is being couched under the whole Homeland Security thing is wrong."

The U.S. Border Patrol says transportation hub checks are part of their typical operations, and they do not racially profile passengers.

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