Sunday, December 21, 2025

Trump Officials Falsely Claims Citizens Must Carry Immigration Docs

"There is no legal requirement that US citizens carry papers or have proof of their citizenship on them," said an attorney at the ACLU of Northern California.

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Bovino, the man overseeing mass deportations, publicly declared that we must all have our papers on us, at all times, or we could be stopped, harassed, kidnapped, and detained, as they did with the man in this case, who is a US citizen.

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-- Radley Balko (@radleybalko.bsky.social) Dec 13, 2025 at 9:32 AM

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More from the article ...

... Federal law enforcement agencies are detaining US citizens who do not carry proof of their citizenship in what civil rights advocates describe as a flagrant violation of constitutional rights -- and a top Trump administration official is claiming the government has the authority to do so. ...

As the Sahan Journal describes:

... Mubashir said he told officers multiple times that he is a US citizen and asked if he could show them his ID. Officers ignored him, dragged him in the snow, and pushed him into a car as witnesses yelled and blew whistles, according to the video of his arrest.

...

And, as Bree Bernwanger, a senior attorney at the ACLU of Northern California, explained, "there is no legal requirement that US citizens carry papers or have proof of their citizenship on them." Unless police have reasonable suspicion that a person is in the US unlawfully, she said, "there shouldn't be a reason to have to carry your papers, because immigration agents aren't supposed to stop people or detain them."

But as backlash rolled in from the video of Mubashir's arrest, the man leading Trump's mass deportation crusade, US Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino, seemed to falsely suggest via social media that citizens are required to carry proof of their citizenship.

"One must carry immigration documents as per the INA. A REAL ID is not an immigration document," he wrote in response to a post about Mubashir's arrest, which noted his citizenship.

Jeremy Konyndyk, the president of Refugees International, responded that "in no way does the INA require citizens to carry immigration documents" and that Bovino is "just letting his jackboot thugs presumptively detain whomever they like." ...




#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-12-20 07:25 PM

@#1

"Your papers, please."


#2 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-12-20 07:26 PM

Woman detained by ICE in Baltimore claims she's Maryland-born U.S. citizen
www.cbsnews.com

... A woman is fighting deportation after her lawyer said ICE agents arrested her in Baltimore and ignored her claims she is a United States citizen.

22-year-old Dulce Consuelo Diaz Morales' family said she was pulled over by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents last Sunday, held in Baltimore, and then flown to Louisiana, where she remains in detention.

Her lawyers said they have a birth certificate and other documentation to back up her U.S. citizenship. ...



#3 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-12-20 07:29 PM

OK, so it seems that ICE does not accept a Real ID or a birth certificate as prooof of being an American citizen.

My question becomes: what is accepted?

A white skin color?

#4 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-12-20 07:31 PM

@#4 ... OK, so it seems that ICE does not accept a Real ID or a birth certificate as prooof of being an American citizen. ...

And, if I may add ...

When I went to the CT DMV in Norwalk,CT to obtain the Real ID Gold Star on my driver license, I presented my birth certificate (with the embossed stamp of NYC) and my valid passport.

So, I ask once again, what, exactly does ICE require for identification besides, apparently skin color?



#5 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-12-20 09:40 PM

PEDO DONNIE CAN GO ---- HIMSELF

#6 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2025-12-21 12:13 PM

Bovino is full of it, just another one of Trump's broken toy preening and prancing enablers and crumb gatherers

#7 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2025-12-21 02:32 PM

Hey lamp, you got it wrong. It's 'your Papers now', with no please' asked ...

#8 | Posted by catdog at 2025-12-21 02:59 PM

As this case shoes, it doesn't matter if you have your papers.

ICE is arresting American citizens for not looking American, and Republicans are happy about it and think Trump is doing the right thing.

#9 | Posted by snoofy at 2025-12-21 03:13 PM

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