© 2024 Maine Public

Bangor Studio/Membership Department
63 Texas Ave.
Bangor, ME 04401

Lewiston Studio
1450 Lisbon St.
Lewiston, ME 04240

Portland Studio
323 Marginal Way
Portland, ME 04101

Registered 501(c)(3) EIN: 22-3171529
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Scroll down to see all available streams.
SIGNAL ALERT: WMEB TV will be off the air for maintenance for an extended period on 10/3/24.

ACLU asks Maine bus line to stop allowing border patrol agents to board without cause

FILE - Border Patrol agents hold a news conference prior to a media tour of a new U.S. Customs and Border Protection temporary facility near the Donna International Bridge in Donna, Texas, May 2, 2019.
Eric Gay
/
AP
FILE - Border Patrol agents hold a news conference prior to a media tour of a new U.S. Customs and Border Protection temporary facility near the Donna International Bridge in Donna, Texas, May 2, 2019.

The Maine chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has asked Cyr Bus Lines to stop allowing U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents to board their buses without cause.

The organization says agents have boarded buses at a Houlton rest stop, questioning passengers and, more recently, having drug-sniffing dogs examine all passengers' luggage.

Carol Garvan, legal director for the ACLU of Maine, says such actions violate the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment.

"CBP still needs reasonable suspicion or probable cause in order to search people or to detain people," Garvan says. "Those general Fourth Amendment principles apply regardless of where individuals are. Alternatively, they need consent."

Garvan says Cyr bus drivers have been giving that consent. She says her organization has written to Cyr, urging it to follow a policy adopted by Concord Coach Lines. In 2020, Concord joined Greyhound in refusing to allow U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents on their buses without a warrant.

Cyr Bus President Mike Cyr had no comment.