this post was submitted on 16 Jan 2026
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You Should Know

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For fellow Americans living in cities where ICE is active, many people, especially those of Hispanic descent, are already carrying around passports on their persons at all times because they're rightfully afraid of being forcibly disappeared or deported to some random South American country.

A passport card can be obtained for $30 from the Department of State. It is considered exactly equivalent to a passport within the US, but it's the size of a credit card. It is a valid travel document for land and sea travel within North America and the Caribbean. It also counts as a Real ID. The card is good for ten years.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/need-passport/card.html

Do not do this if you are transgender or have an X gender marker. They will cancel your passport and tell you to apply for a new one with your sex assigned at birth.

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[–] JackBinimbul@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Do not do this if you are transgender or have an X gender marker. They will cancel your passport and tell you to apply for a new one with your sex assigned at birth.

Uh . . . how? I'm a trans man, but my passport says male. I changed it years ago. I have an active passport. Is there anything in this process that would get me flagged as a trans person?

[–] NateNate60@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

They have a database of trans people. If you were ever issued a passport with an F gender marker, they would know you changed it.

If you try to renew, you'll get the passport back with two holes punched in it with a letter telling you to apply again with an F gender marker.

Edit: Some transgender people have been issued the passport anyway with the gender they were assigned at birth. This causes problems because your appearance would not match the gender stated on the passport and thus would subject you to additional scrutiny at checkpoints. That's not even mentioning the countries where being transgender is just illegal, although I don't imagine you have many plans to visit those places.

[–] JackBinimbul@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Fuckin' gross.

So for every person who submits for a renewal or new passport, they are crosschecking records to try to catch "the trannies".

[–] NateNate60@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, this is unfortunately why, immediately after the election, there was a surge of posts on Lemmy and elsewhere telling transgender people to rush a passport application or renewal while Biden was still in office. Basically within weeks of Trump assuming power, dealing with the federal government has been Hell on earth for transgender people.

It has indeed. I live in one of the most hostile states in the country. Working like hell to get the fuck out.

[–] mech@feddit.org 230 points 1 week ago (19 children)

YSK a card in your wallet won't help you much when an ICE agent points a gun at your head and tells you your passport looks fake, without even looking at it.

[–] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 56 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

If this form factor for ID isn't well known enough for them to know about it, I doubt they received training on its existence.

Which means having this card will make them assume it's fake by default. "That's not what a US passport looks like!" Thereby increasing their deluded suspicions, rather than reducing them.

[–] mech@feddit.org 35 points 1 week ago

I doubt they received training ~~on its existence~~.

[–] Hawke@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago

The problem is not lack of training. This isn’t a “whoopsie-poopsie”. They’re doing it on purpose and if someone looks brown enough they get kidnapped. With luck they get released later.

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[–] dhork@lemmy.world 20 points 1 week ago (2 children)

The main advantage is that it's a redundant form of citizenship ID. ICE can always say it is fake and confiscate it, but then you have your passport book waiting at home for your lawyer to take to the detention center to get you out (once they find out where they took you).

[–] moody@lemmings.world 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Most Americans don't own a passport in the first place.

[–] dhork@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago

Anyone who fails the "Peter Griffin in a Fez" test needs to get one. And double up on the card and book.

Because it doesn't matter where you were born, or what the facts are. ICE is targeting people who they believe don't belong here, based on how they look and sound. Having the card on your person is no guarantee, but maybe it will work if they are in a good mood.

It's sad that this is what it has come to in America, of all places, but here we are.

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[–] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 88 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Lmao it's been shown multiple times that even with a passport shown to ICE they'll just call it fake if they want to abduct you.

[–] Otherbarry@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz 17 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yup I was going to comment the same. The physical passport might be useful after the fact once you're in ICE holding being processed after x amount of hours/days. But then again at that point they would look you up in their systems so having the physical passport in your wallet may end up being a waste of time anyway.

The fact is if the ICE goon squad you encounter feels like arresting and detaining US citizens they're going to do it.

And that's assuming the ICE goons don't make up charges of assaulting them or similar, in which case I'm not sure if those US citizens being charged get released with a future court date or are detained indefinitely.

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[–] roofuskit@lemmy.world 82 points 1 week ago (5 children)

You should know that you are not required to identify yourself to the gestapo. This post is in un-American.

The way to combat these idiots is everyone refusing to show identification .

[–] chuckleslord@lemmy.world 31 points 1 week ago

Thank you. Papers, Please isn't the ending we need to run to. They can't treat us like criminals cause they feel like it

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[–] TheReanuKeeves@lemmy.world 76 points 1 week ago (6 children)

Still seems like a hassle to have to pull that out. They should design something that's more outwardly noticeable like a piece of clothing or maybe just a simple armband they can wear over their clothes that signifies they're jewis-I mean legal or whatever.

[–] huppakee@piefed.social 19 points 1 week ago

Or just a stamp saying 'this person is unwanted but haven't found a reason to get rid of them yet' so you can show to the next ice 'agent' you've already been harassed earlier.

[–] Drbreen@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 week ago

Or maybe a tattoo on their forehead!

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[–] makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml 69 points 1 week ago

My goodness. I can't believe we are living in this era of fascism.

Good luck United States folk.

[–] PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca 67 points 1 week ago (3 children)

“YSK you should comply with authoritarian governments”

Yall are so fucking cooked.

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[–] OshagHennessey@lemmy.world 66 points 1 week ago (5 children)

YSK if ICE thinks you're too brown, they'll just say yours is fake and deport you anyway. It's already happened to US citizens.

[–] Insekticus@aussie.zone 14 points 1 week ago

Deadset. Which moron actually thinks mexican-looking peoples with actual passports are being approached on the streets and let go??

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[–] Cyberflunk@lemmy.world 43 points 1 week ago

YSK, you don't need a fucking passport to be safe in this country. FUCK ICE AND RESIST

[–] kbobabob@lemmy.dbzer0.com 39 points 1 week ago (2 children)
[–] digdilem@lemmy.ml 17 points 1 week ago

Or wear a star on your jacket for everyone to see.

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[–] monkeyslikebananas2@lemmy.world 34 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

If you have to prove you have rights then no one has rights.

[–] nek0d3r@lemmy.dbzer0.com 29 points 1 week ago (3 children)

A REAL ID is also valid proof of citizenship. ICE clearly does not care.

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[–] doublenut@sh.itjust.works 29 points 1 week ago (9 children)

You're trolling right? No one should need to unlawfully identify themselves at the bequest of nazis.

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[–] arin@lemmy.world 29 points 1 week ago

Ysk papers please within boarders is a regime in turmoil.

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 27 points 1 week ago (2 children)

You think ICE cares? You think ICE even understands that?

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[–] chillpanzee@lemmy.ml 27 points 1 week ago

Would be a useful tip in a world where ICE follows the law.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 27 points 1 week ago (17 children)

Definitive proof of citizenship won't stop ICE from beating or killing you if you have an accent or non-white skin.

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[–] Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca 26 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Colored man reaching for something in his jacket or pants?

YSK he's about to get shot.

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[–] VinnyDaCat@lemmy.world 26 points 1 week ago

It won't stop them. Immigration and customs already had a large amount of unchecked power prior to this administration, but under this administration there isn't anything they care about. They've been murdering people in cold blood across multiple blue states for a while now.

Besides that, if people start panicking and trying this then the necessary venues that people have to go to for their first passport(you have to show up in person for your first passport) could become ICE targets or places they stalk. It's not exactly uncommon knowledge that conservatives tend to not bother getting passports either.

[–] Hello_there@fedia.io 24 points 1 week ago (1 children)

YSK: you want to take up as much time as possible (depending on your needs) when talking to ICE. One minute talking to you is one minute they're not teargassing an infant.

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[–] myfunnyaccountname@lemmy.zip 23 points 1 week ago (2 children)

“This isn’t real” -ICEcuck

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[–] wolfpack86@lemmy.world 20 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Alternate title:

Give the government $30 to stop violating your civil liberties

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[–] Bubbaonthebeach@lemmy.ca 20 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Apparently ICE doesn't have to look at it.

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[–] Pulsar@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago

Having a passport card will definitely make it easier for the deportation official to release you after assault you, put you in handcuffs and take you to the station for speaking Spanish in a Mexican restaurant.

[–] PointyFluff@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I'm 100% not showing my papers.

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[–] NarrativeBear@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago

This would be more effective if everyone just affixed a symbol to their sleeve.

Maybe that symbol can be easily recognizable like a star or something. We can even make it bright yellow or gold so it's visible from a distance.

[–] traxex@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 1 week ago

I will absolutely refuse any unlawful order to see my “papers”.

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