Public Transit Advocacy in an Age of Immigration Crackdowns

Public safety is inherently tied to transportation. If people don’t feel safe on the streets, they don’t use the streets to walk, bike, or take public transportation. Lynda Lopez argues that in a time of vigorous immigration enforcement, transit advocates need should be allies to immigrants.

"As an example of how real the threat is, three children who are U.S. citizens who were traveling without their immigrant parents were held by border protection officers for 13 hours at O’Hare last week, which a local congresswoman called 'kidnapping of children by our government,'" Lopez writes in Streetsblog Chicago. This incident from a couple week ago has many feeling unsafe.

"Immigrants are a crucial segment of our society that is currently under attack, so as sustainable transportation advocates we need to deepen our understanding of the issues that impact the way they experience transportation," Lopez argues. To do this, Lopez suggests advocates encourage their agencies to release statements in support of immigrants, use transit stops as locations to educate immigrants about their rights, and encouraging transit agencies to voice their support for the immigrants in their communities and dispel rumors that could be keeping immigrant riders off buses and trains.