Posted on 02/18/2008 9:20:39 PM PST by Sammy67
Two U.S. Border Patrol agents parked near the tracks at Union Station on a recent morning.
Amtrak passengers filed out onto the platform, ready to board.
The train screeched to a stop on the southbound tracks.
The agents set to work.
They checked passengers boarding the train. Then the agents got on the train.
They walked down the aisles of two coach cars, asking some of the 150 riders -- many half-asleep in their seats -- for identification.
The conductor stood outside on the platform.
This is part of his routine -- the daily visit from federal agents whom some Amtrak employees call their "friends in green."
Few people think of Erie as a border town, said the Border Patrol agent in charge of the Erie station, Andrew Scharnweber. The Canadian border is at a distance, from 10 to 22 miles off the shore in Lake Erie.
"It's not somewhere like Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales, Sonora -- two sister cities on either side of the border in Arizona," Scharnweber said. "People certainly know Canada is across the water, but the people in Erie generally do not equate Erie as a border town."
But Border Patrol agents stationed in Erie still make hundreds of apprehensions a year -- 332 in 2007 -- to investigate illegal immigration and expired visas. And they do their work in a city hundreds of miles away from the border -- the one with Mexico -- that gets
(Excerpt) Read more at goerie.com ...
Ping of interest.
The Erie Border Patrol station falls under the jurisdiction of Buffalo sector of the Office of Border Patrol. The Erie station made the third-most immigration apprehensions in the sector in 2007.
Rochester, N.Y.: 1,475 apprehensions
Oswego, N.Y.: 472
Erie: 332
Buffalo: 282
Wellesly Island, N.Y.: 109
Niagara Falls, N.Y.: 90
— Caught In Erie
Who was apprehended in Erie in 2007?
Mexican nationals: 196 apprehensions
All other nationalities: 136 apprehensions. Those apprehended were from Egypt, Yemen, Turkey, Bangladesh and the Philippines, among other countries.
Sources: Office of Border Patrol, Buffalo sector; Erie Border Patrol station
@ For more information, go to www.cbp.gov.
[among..Those apprehended were from Egypt, Yemen, Turkey, Bangladesh and the Philippines, ]
To me, that is much more worrisome than Mexican illegals.
I’m way down in Texas but have an interest in Erie, Pa. Thanks for the info.
This sounds like those German or Soviet movies, “Your Papers”. it is getting way too scary, starting to sound too much like big brother and the police state.
when you are at war you have to check for invaders at the border..
We were given the train inspection (with dogs included) in the middle of the plains at a tiny town far from the border.
When I was asked for my ID I offered to make a map of numerous locations in So. Calif along the border where hundreds cross daily.
The agents have not a single ounce of humor to spare while on the job.
It seems that the request to produce documents was not at the border but within the USA, we start with the first 10 to 20 miles, get ready to see it closer to the heartland.
***It seems that the request to produce documents was not at the border but within the USA, we start with the first 10 to 20 miles, get ready to see it closer to the heartland.***
When it’s a logical assumption that an illegal border crosser will take certain routes into the heartland, then it’s time for the border patrol to ask questions.
Well it is common knowledge that there are illegals within the USA, in your opinion should it be ok for law enforcement of any kind to ask for your papers at whim?
Well, I guess if you don’t mind being invaded, you have a point.
Lemme just focus in on this. 20 miles or less from the Canadian border, the majority of illegal entrants are from ... Mexico. Think about it. I mean think about how they didn't come across the northern border -- and think about how much higher a proportion they must be everywhere else.
Whether or not it is OK I leave up to you, but they've been doing this on Greyhound buses for 20 years.
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