PHILADELPHIA _ An NJ Transit crewman was suspended without pay Monday after announcing during the morning rush hour that agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security were on the train to New York, the mass transit agency said.
NJ Transit said the announcement on the 6:54 a.m. train from Bay Head was false. But it prompted a small storm on social media, with many saying such an action was unlawful and un-American, while others criticized the train crewman for compromising a law enforcement operation.
A tweet from a rider reporting the announcement caught the eye of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez. If the action were true, the New Jersey Democrat said, it amounted to "outrageous racial profiling."
NJ Transit said the crew member, a 30-year veteran whose name was not released, had been immediately suspended without pay pending an investigation.
"NJT will not tolerate such reprehensible conduct which stands in direct contrast with our agency's culture," the agency wrote on Twitter.
Nancy Snyder, spokeswoman for the agency, said the announcement was false.
