Rueben Antonio Cruz was sitting with a friend in Rogers Park when ICE agents pulled up onto the street.
The immigration officers stopped their truck and went straight after them on Oct. 9, Cruz told the Tribune.
“They asked us if we have papers. I said I do but I don’t have them on me,” Cruz, a 60-year old man with heart problems originally from El Salvador, recalled in Spanish.
The agents stood Cruz up, put him in their truck, drove around in circles, and asked questions, he said.
Apparently green-card holders have to carry their green cards around all the time. This law was so rarely enforced that I never knew about it despite having been a green-card holder myself.
Former green card holder here: I read all the paperwork I got and I always carried my green card on me cos I was aware of the requirement. Am a bit paranoid about paperwork.
My friend got her green card about 20 years ago, and she said they made it very clear she needed to carry it at all times.
Because no one forgets, ever. And even if they don’t, what prevents a bad actor from stealing it?
All my youth, it was stressed to always carry my ID and social security card. Them it was “in two separate places,” and then, “leave ss card home.”
I didn’t say anything about the enforcement of the rule or how dumb it was. I was only pointing out that it should not be a surprise to any green card holder that they need to be carrying it.
The thing is, US Citzens don’t have to carry papers with them, so there is no way to enforce it without stomping all over the rights of citizens. We should all be outraged over the expectation of producing papers.
Its true that there’s no way to enforce a law like that directly, and I don’t think that I agree with the requirement to carry documents at all times, same as you.
There is some use for laws that are not directly enforceable, though, just not in this case. For example, a government may reasonably want to limit citizens’ ability to operate a vehicle carrying a hazardous chemical. They may not be able to justly stop him and check for things with no reason, but if that is discovered because he got in a wreck, they can then punish the illegal transport crime.
I know its often repressive or at least unhelpful to make laws that aren’t directly enforceable, but there is some room for them. It is important to disallow legal overreach of law enforcement trampling civil liberties trying to enforce those laws like you pointed out, though. That’s something that my country (USA) unfortunately has a checkered history with, as have a lot of others.
ETA: To be clear, making it illegal for a person to not physically have something at all times seems patently absurd, regardless of how loosely enforced. All of the reasonable requirements of being a legal resident are met by simply being registered with the government of the country you are visiting.
Right, it should be perfectly fine to answer “Papiere bitte” with “fuck off”. Until they know you’re someone who is required to carry their paperwork, they shouldn’t be able to require it
This is what it’s really all about; everybody has rights, or no one does. There is no in between.
My wife used to be a green card holder it was made clear to her when she got it that she needed to always carry it. Not defending the gestapo’s actions, but the dude should not have left the card at home.
I gotta point out that in Canada at least, unless you’re driving you don’t need to carry any ID. You could be a freshly landed immigrant and you don’t really need to carry anything. Unless you’re driving, buying alcohol / weed or need to register for something. Its wild to me that “not having your papers” while just going about your day in the world is not resulting in major protests. Just wild.
I was still a kid (under 18) when I had a green card so maybe I didn’t get the official lecture for that reason, and then my parents didn’t think it was important enough to tell me.
I saw that. Why hasn’t that been changed under any administration? Is it something we need to address?
Doesnt that mean they can arrest everyone at the beach for nothing other than them not having their paperwork in the water with them. Throw them in the back of a truck and then if they so happened to be a green card fine them.
The whole thing seems sketchy.
“Why are you arresting/ticketing me?” “Because there is no way you have papers in that Speedo”
republicans don’t want to do it, and no one thought to include it as a rider on funding for israel, so democrats didn’t do it.
I think that having unenforced laws is in general a bad thing because then the government can use selective enforcement as a tool of oppression, so you won’t find me objecting to a repeal. Maybe it’ll happen if there’s ever a major backlash against Trump’s immigration policies.
I would like for it to be addressed, regardless of the administration.
I hope you and yours stay safe and healthy in every way, friend.
I guess similar to jaywalking. Very few people ever get fined/charged with it even though it being a crime in most states in the US.