A family in Maryland is trying to find a woman arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), whose attorneys say is an American citizen but the government insists is Mexican.
Agents arrested Dulce Consuelo Diaz Morales, 22, on December 14 in Baltimore while she was heading home with her sister.
Despite her saying she was born in the U.S., she was held in ICE custody after failing to prove citizenship, the agency said. Attorneys rushed to get a court order keeping her in Maryland, but the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) moved her to Louisiana anyway.
Her family has now been told she has been deported, despite U.S. District Judge Brendan Hurson ruling Thursday that she could not be deported pending a hearing. Perez and colleague Victoria Slatten said they had not been able to confirm Diaz Morales’ whereabouts.
Pro Tip: for an extra $30, you can get a Passport Card in addition to your passport. It is only valid as a travel document for land and sea travel within North America, but has the same proof of citizenship as a passport book. Everyone who is in the wrong half of the “Peter Griffin in a Fez” scale should carry it on their person at all times.
Yes, the ICE agent will say it’s fake, and confiscate it, but at least you can keep your passport book in a safe place for your family to bring to the detention center to try and get you out.
the problem is that people often dont carry around that, and more than likely they have expired passport. which is quite difficult to get if havnt renewed in more than 10 years. i dont know why they make the process to get a passport so convoluted.
The process to get your first passport is quite a chore, because you need your original citizenship documents, like that birth certificate with the raised seal, or your original naturalization papers. If you don’t have that you need to go to whatever authority made out your documentation first and request it, which might take a while (and more ID).
But once you have that, renewing it is much easier, because that expired passport can be still be accepted as proof of citizenship, even for some time after expiration. I’ve been able to renew mine online. I just have to fill out the form, send them a fresh picture, and pay the fee.
Yeah - I used to carry one. I’m white as a ghost, but I used to drive to Mexico often enough it was worth not having to replace my passport book because it was getting stamped too often.
Do they stamp something to supplement the card? Is that not an option with the passport book?
That card doesn’t have to be stamped at all. But it only works on land and sea crossing within North America. So unless you’re on a cruise or driving to Mexico or Canada, you still need the book with the stamps.
Right, I understand the difference in which the book is required and the card is insufficient. I’m just confused on how the card saved your book. You said they were stamping the book when you made land crossings. Instead, to save your book, you brought the card, which they obviously couldn’t stamp. So what did they do instead? Issue no stamps at all? Stamp something else? Whatever they did instead, could that alternative not also be applied to the book? I’ve only ever used my book by plane, so I don’t know what the alternatives are
Canada and Mexico share their data bases with us. I imagine the visa is provided electronically at PoE
If you have the card there’s no stamping.
It just makes me wonder why they bother stamping the book then if they don’t stamp anything supplemental with the card.
Thanks for the info. I’m on the okay side, but my wife and kids are not. A redundancy of documentation is the way to go. I just hope it matters.
The whole thing is about scaring people into self-deporting. They’re also coming after people like your family with the SCOTUS decision on the 14th amendment that’ll drop this summer. If you want to stay together as a unit, looking at moving back to her home nation is the only actual guarantee at this stage. Sorry, brother… this shit is fucked.
https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-trump-birthright-citizenship-14th-amendment-873a45bc58de9e92773f554bf5bba9a0
Thanks, bud. Luckily citizenship isn’t the issue (sorry, I meant naturalization for others, not for us), but profiling is still a problem. My wife was adopted by naturalized citizens and I’m a US citizen born abroad. We should be okay under normal circumstances. I’m just worried about harassment by ICE and DHS.
Relevent: Korean Adoptees that got deported because their stupid adoptive parents didn’t file paperworks.
Off-topic - A passport card does not have signature. It cannot be used identification in some circumstances.
The place i work requires ID from most people coming in. A signature is required most of the time.
The place you work is refusing legal government-issued ID.
I should have said - It cannot be used alone as identification in some circumstances. Some thing else with a signature is required, such as a bank card.