Border Patrol Agents Question Passengers on Train in Montana

Federal officers questioned passengers on an Amtrak train when it stopped at Havre, Montana.

When Amtrak’s Empire Builder stopped in Havre, Montana, two federal officers in paramilitary gear questioned train passengers about whether they were USA citizens.

Richard Baer, a North Dakota lawyer and state district court judge for the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arika Tribe, said he saw ICE on their clothing. He said, “It was intimidating.”

He asked whether they were joking. They asked about his citizenship again. After he said he was a citizen, they went to the next passenger, and the next. They did not demand evidence of citizenship. Baer said, “They took my word for it. I presume if my skin was a little darker I might have had to come up with some documentation, but that’s only my own guess.”

He saw another official in uniform who seemed to be supervising but did not board the train.

The officers were on the train for almost its entire stop at the station. Baer presumed they questioned everyone on the train. The conductor told him that in 40 years on the railway, he had never seen anything similar.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the officers were not theirs. Customs and Border Patrol said the officers were some of their agents.

In 2020 CBP settled a lawsuit filed by two women their agents arrested in Havre after hearing them speak Spanish with each other in a convenience store. The women were citizens of the USA.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that in 2006 CBP agents illegally detained some men in Havre.

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