Racist raids on the rails?

Pro-immigration advocates held a small protest yesterday in front of New York’s Penn Station to reject allegedly discriminatory practices on Amtrak and Greyhound. They expressed their opposition to unannounced raids conducted by immigration officials after passengers board the bus or train.

Depending on your judgment the raids may or may not be unfair. Yet they hardly seem effective as this excerpt from the New York Times’ City Room blog revealed:

But how does one exactly prove citizenship?...

“All you have to do is state you are a U.S. citizen,” [Department of Homeland Security spokesman Ramon] Rivera said of the Border and Customs Patrol.

That’s it? That seemed suspiciously simple. What if people lie?

And indeed they do. Each year, “We have thousands of people falsely claiming to a U.S. citizens,” he said.

Well, then a simple declarative statement of citizenship doesn’t seem to be a very effective filter, does it?

That’s where the biometric fingerprints, background checks and interviews come in, he explained.

Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff defended U.S. immigration policy yesterday during a Senate hearing.

Image- NY1

Sources- New York Sun, City Room, NY1, the Border Line