While cities, towns, schools, hospitals, and other agencies have plans in place to deal with ICE, BART has said little or nothing. But BART applied for and received a $753,176 Transportation Security Grant through FEMA and Homeland Security. This grant would put BART in a direct relationship with ICE. One of the priorities of the grant is “Supporting Border Crisis Response and Enforcement,” included, as examples of project types, were:
- Procurement of screening, detection, and communications technology to support immigration enforcement activities
- Establishing secure and dedicated communication networks with ICE Field Offices
- Conducting joint training exercises with ICE and local law enforcement to test operational coordination
- Development or enhancement of information-sharing platforms between ICE and local agencies
When publicity about the grant became public, BART management claimed that it didn’t know about the connection with ICE. Really? They can’t read? Or didn’t care? Pressure on AC Transit resulted in the AC Board not accepting the grant.
Recently, a court suit filed by the states where the transit agencies targeted for the grants are located, has blocked the mandatory connection to ICE.
(For more information, go to the website of Oaklandside, https://oaklandside.org, and search for BART.)
