Democrats: Immigration Check of Florida Bus Was 'Arbitrary'

Originally published by The New York Times

Some Democratic members of Congress say the breadth of the zone where U.S. Border Patrol is permitted to check travelers' documentation must be reviewed.

Leaders of the Congressional Caribbean Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus signed a joint statement Friday, responding to widely shared videos of Border Patrol officers removing a woman from a Florida passenger bus. U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch led six other Florida Democrats in signing it.

The videos showed officers boarding a Miami-bound Greyhound bus last week in Fort Lauderdale.

The Democrats called the officers' actions "arbitrary and disruptive." They said the 100-mile (160-kilometer) zone along the U.S. border and coast where such checks are routine puts everyone in Florida "under constant threat" of interrogations and searches.

Border Patrol officials said the stop was a routine inspection.

Read more:https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/01/26/us/ap-u-immigration-bus-inspection.html?mtrref=query.nytimes.com