PHOENIX (By Daniel Gonzalez, Arizona
Republic) September 24, 2005 A 3-year-old policy by Greyhound Lines
Inc. warning employees that they could be arrested or fired for selling
bus tickets to anyone they know or believe is an undocumented immigrant
is discriminatory and invites racial profiling, several local and
national Hispanic advocacy groups say.
Immigrants Without Borders, a Phoenix-based advocacy group, is planning a rally today at Greyhound's Phoenix terminal at 24th Street and Buckeye Road to protest the policy.
Greyhound denies the policy is discriminatory.
Organizers are urging passengers not to buy bus tickets on Greyhound, the nation's largest passenger bus company, or its two subsidiary lines, Crucero USA and Autobuses Americanos, until Greyhound changes the policy, group founder Elνas Bermudez, said. Crucero shares Dallas-based Greyhound's terminal on Buckeye Road and a small terminal with Autobuses Americanos on East Washington Street in Phoenix.
"We are protesting the fact that they are doing racial profiling," Bermudez said. He is also director of Centro de Ayuda, a Phoenix business that helps immigrants prepare immigration and tax documents.
Two national civil rights groups, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and the National Council of La Raza, asked Greyhound to reconsider the policy, saying it is unwarranted.
"The whole policy screams out discrimination," said John Trasviρa, senior vice president for law and policy at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. "It puts a lot of pressure on employees to go overboard and exclude undocumented immigrants when there is no legal reason to do so."
The policy could lead to racial profiling, he said.
"There is no way of telling by looking at someone whether they are here legally," he said.
Kim Plaskett, a Greyhound spokeswoman, said the company is open to reviewing the policy. She denied it is discriminatory. Employees are trained not to engage in racial profiling, she said.
"We don't target individuals. We are targeting smugglers. We are targeting groups. We are targeting behaviors," she said.
The company transports 22 million passengers a year. It has denied tickets only a few times.
"It's a very rare occurrence and we have not received any complaints," she said.
The policy was revised in 2002 after Golden State Transportation was indicted on charges of conspiring with smugglers to illegally transport thousands of undocumented immigrants to destinations throughout the country, including Arizona. The company was fined $3 million in 2004. The company was operated by a subsidiary of Greyhound.
The company's three-page "Transportation of Illegal Aliens" policy informs employees, agents and contractors that it is a federal crime to knowingly provide transportation to people who are in the United States illegally. A violation could lead to the employee's arrest or termination.
Under the guidelines, employers are warned not to sell tickets to anyone they know or believe is an immigrant smuggler or an undocumented immigrant, especially groups of undocumented immigrants.
The company says undocumented immigrants are recognizable by certain characteristics: large groups of people traveling together, led by a "guide, and guides holding tickets without giving them to passengers."
The company also instructs employees to be wary of passengers traveling with little or no luggage or trying to hide or stay out of plain view.
Immigrants Without Borders, a Phoenix-based advocacy group, is planning a rally today at Greyhound's Phoenix terminal at 24th Street and Buckeye Road to protest the policy.
Greyhound denies the policy is discriminatory.
Organizers are urging passengers not to buy bus tickets on Greyhound, the nation's largest passenger bus company, or its two subsidiary lines, Crucero USA and Autobuses Americanos, until Greyhound changes the policy, group founder Elνas Bermudez, said. Crucero shares Dallas-based Greyhound's terminal on Buckeye Road and a small terminal with Autobuses Americanos on East Washington Street in Phoenix.
"We are protesting the fact that they are doing racial profiling," Bermudez said. He is also director of Centro de Ayuda, a Phoenix business that helps immigrants prepare immigration and tax documents.
Two national civil rights groups, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and the National Council of La Raza, asked Greyhound to reconsider the policy, saying it is unwarranted.
"The whole policy screams out discrimination," said John Trasviρa, senior vice president for law and policy at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. "It puts a lot of pressure on employees to go overboard and exclude undocumented immigrants when there is no legal reason to do so."
The policy could lead to racial profiling, he said.
"There is no way of telling by looking at someone whether they are here legally," he said.
Kim Plaskett, a Greyhound spokeswoman, said the company is open to reviewing the policy. She denied it is discriminatory. Employees are trained not to engage in racial profiling, she said.
"We don't target individuals. We are targeting smugglers. We are targeting groups. We are targeting behaviors," she said.
The company transports 22 million passengers a year. It has denied tickets only a few times.
"It's a very rare occurrence and we have not received any complaints," she said.
The policy was revised in 2002 after Golden State Transportation was indicted on charges of conspiring with smugglers to illegally transport thousands of undocumented immigrants to destinations throughout the country, including Arizona. The company was fined $3 million in 2004. The company was operated by a subsidiary of Greyhound.
The company's three-page "Transportation of Illegal Aliens" policy informs employees, agents and contractors that it is a federal crime to knowingly provide transportation to people who are in the United States illegally. A violation could lead to the employee's arrest or termination.
Under the guidelines, employers are warned not to sell tickets to anyone they know or believe is an immigrant smuggler or an undocumented immigrant, especially groups of undocumented immigrants.
The company says undocumented immigrants are recognizable by certain characteristics: large groups of people traveling together, led by a "guide, and guides holding tickets without giving them to passengers."
The company also instructs employees to be wary of passengers traveling with little or no luggage or trying to hide or stay out of plain view.
