Greyhound must also place stickers on or near the front door of its buses that communicate that policy to passengers, and it must give its drivers placards explaining the policy that they can hand to immigration agents, he said.
“My office first insisted that Greyhound make these corporate reforms in 2019,” Mr. Ferguson said in a statement. “If Greyhound had simply accepted our reasonable demand, they would have avoided a lawsuit.”
“Now, on the eve of trial, Greyhound’s evasion has come to an end, and now it must pay $2 million for the harm it caused Washingtonians,” Mr. Ferguson continued. “Greyhound has an obligation to its customers — an obligation it cannot set aside so immigration agents can go on fishing expeditions aboard its buses.”
Greyhound said in a statement that it was pleased to have reached the agreement.
“By agreeing to the consent decree, we will more extensively communicate to our customers the policies and procedures we already have in place to serve the citizens of Washington State,” the company said in a statement.
For years, Greyhound had been allowing immigration agents to board its buses without warrants, citing a law that it said it didn’t agree with.
During the Trump administration, when the White House sought to crack down on illegal immigration, passengers aboard buses and trains on domestic routes were subjected to immigration checks, and Border Patrol officers were found working without permission on private property and setting up checkpoints up to 100 miles from the border.
In February 2020, Greyhound announced that it would no longer allow Border Patrol agents to conduct immigration checks on its buses without warrants.
