Amid the Trump administration’s ongoing crackdown, the nation’s immigration service is warning immigrants to carry their green card or visa at all times.
Citizenship and Immigration Services posted the reminder July 23 on social media: ‘Always carry your alien registration documentation. Not having these when stopped by federal law enforcement can lead to a misdemeanor and fines.’
In a ‘Know Your Rights’ presentation, the American Civil Liberties Union cautions immigrants older than 18 to follow the law and ‘carry your papers with you at all times.’
‘If you don’t have them,’ the ACLU says, ‘tell the officer that you want to remain silent, or that you want to consult a lawyer before answering any questions.’
The law requiring lawful immigrants and foreign visitors to carry their immigration documents isn’t new, dating to the 1950s. The Immigration and Nationality Act states: ‘Every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him.’
But the law had rarely been imposed before the Trump administration announced earlier this year that it would strictly enforce it.
The ‘carry your papers’ portion fell out of use for cultural and historical reasons, said Michelle Lapointe, legal director of the nonprofit American Immigration Council. In contrast to the Soviet bloc at the time the requirement was written, ‘We have never been a country where you have to produce evidence of citizenship on demand from law enforcement.’
Many immigrants prefer to hold their green card or visa in safekeeping because, like a passport, they are expensive and difficult to obtain. Historically, it was ‘a little risky for people to carry these precious documents such as green card, because there is a hefty fee to replace it and they are at risk of not having proof of status – a precarious position,’ Lapointe said.
But as immigration enforcement has ramped up, the risks of not carrying legal documents have grown. Failure to comply with the law can result in a $100 fine or imprisonment of up to 30 days.
U.S. citizens aren’t required to carry documents that prove their citizenship. But with increasing immigration enforcement, Fernando Garcia, executive director of the nonprofit Border Network for Human Rights in El Paso, Texas, said he worries about U.S. citizens being targeted.
In updated guidance, attorneys at Masuda, Funai, Eifert & Mitchell, which has offices in Chicago, Detroit and Los Angeles, advise U.S. citizens who are concerned about being stopped and questioned ‘to carry a U.S. passport card or a copy of their U.S. passport as evidence of U.S. citizenship.’
‘With massive raids and mass deportation, this takes a new dimension,’ Garcia said. ‘How rapidly are we transitioning into a ‘show me your papers’ state?’