Just before midnight the #49/449 Lake Shore Limited Amtrak Train (NYC/Boston to Chicago) arrived in Rochester New York, a mere 60 minutes late. Passengers huddled around the door waiting to get on board.*
While passengers were getting off, a Border Patrol officer came through our car asking each passenger for their citizenship (and documents if it was other than US.) After the waiting passengers boarded, a second Border Patrol officer came through asking everyone the same question.
A few minutes later I looked outside and saw an officer carrying the backpack of a handcuffed man. Shortly after he put him in the back seat along came another officer with another man in handcuffs. This man appeared to be Hispanic. I saw at least four Border Patrol officers during the time we sat in the Rochester station. On the Eastbound part of my trip the Border Patrol officers got on in Buffalo.
*This photo was taken 1 minute too late at 12:01 AM on Tuesday, August 23 but it was the best one to go with this incident.
Turns out these Border Patrol "interviews" on Amtrak trains are quite controversial. Read about it in the New York Times article from a year ago.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/30/nyregion/30border.html