In a video that went viral on the Internet over the weekend, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents arrested a woman aboard a Greyhound bus in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., for failure to demonstrate proof of citizenship.
The footage, posted on Twitter by the Florida Immigrant Coalition, an immigrant advocacy group, shows the border agents conducting a routine inspection on Friday and asking passengers for “a U.S. identification or a passport with a stamp of entrance.” The video has been viewed over 3 million times, according to CBS News.
.@CustomsBorder got on a Greyhound bus yesterday at 4:30pm in Fort Lauderdale and asked every passenger for their papers and to prove citizenship. Proof of citizenship is NOT required to ride a bus! For more information about your rights, call our hotline???? 1-888-600-5762 pic.twitter.com/rWJn61o8VP— FLImmigrantCoalition (@FLImmigrant) January 20, 2018
One lady who failed to provide the documentation is seen in the video getting escorted off the bus with her belongings in U.S. Border Patrol custody.
“They asked everyone for documentation. It had to be specifically a U.S. identification or a passport with a stamp of entrance,” one passenger told CBSMiami. “They grabbed her carry-on and escorted her off the bus.”
According to CBP, the woman, identified as Beverly, overstayed her tourist visa, and she was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for removal proceedings just three days after she was taken into custody on the bus.
A spokesperson from Greyhound told CBS News that they are “required to comply with all local, state, and federal law,” even if it negatively impacts their customers and operations.
Despite public backlash over the incident, U.S. Customs and Border Protection told reporters that they routinely engage in these inspections at Floridian transportation hubs since they are allowed to hold these checkpoints within a hundred miles of the ocean.
The video notably went viral the weekend during the federal government shutdown, in part due to a heated debate on immigration policy in Congress.
