US citizen detained in Alabama by immigration officials who dismissed his REAL ID as fake

[RestoreTheJoy]

I'm going to point out again that neither Real ID nor an SSN verifies that someone is a citizen. They indicate at best that someone is a legal resident. I say "at best" because I have personally known of people who have both and are not legal citizens.

If you want to verify citizenship, you have to have either an Enhanced ID (currently available only in five states) or carry a passport.

Ok, fair point. But it is the best we have that at least someone has undergone some level of vetting for identity, and hopefully criminal history.

 

[RocksInMyHead]

Abrego Garcia, who has been indicted for human trafficking from 2016 to 2025, since being returned to this country.

Odd, that. Couldn't possibly be trumped up charges to cover up the government's embarrassment. I'm not saying that they definitely are, but you have to admit that the timing is suspicious.

Notably, he has pled Not Guilty. We shall see how the trial goes - remember, innocent until proven guilty, right?

 

[DaisyDay]

I stated the case accurately

You accurately stated your opinion. Good job!

A mistake was made here and the guy was released, hence the leftwing parrots are trotting this example out incessantly and ignoring worst mistakes as in protesting for Abrego Garcia, who has been indicted for human trafficking from 2016 to 2025, since being returned to this country.

Again, is a bad choice the same as a mistake?

Trotting out insults doesn't really make you more credible. Abrego Garcia had, as noted by several judges, been denied his due process which ought to be decried by all Americans who value the rule of law.

You can't just let anyone wander into the country and worry about vetting them later IF they are arrested for a crime.

Oh for goodness' sake! The US does not just let anyone wander into the country.

Would you do that in your home where your family lives? No. You have to vet them thoroughly first before letting them into the country; that is the essence of the immigration system.

False equivalence. The essence of the immigration system? Our immigration system is dysfunctional at best with too few administrators and judges.

No, we approve visitor visas all the time without thoroughly vetting them, but we do a quick check.

Any system as stupid as the Biden open borders is an invitation to criminals..

Biden did not have an open door border policy. That is stupid propaganda, but it appears to be effective on a large swath. People sneak in but that is not allowing it. Once on American soil, anyone who turns themself in to the appropriate authority can request asylum which means getting a hearing to assess the claim.

.and they came, completely foreseeably, and mixed in with actual asylum seekers. Who didn't see that coming?

Why would you say that? People claiming asylum get vetted. Unfortunately, there is a tremendous backlog because we simply don't have sufficient immigration judges to effectively handle the current volume which has been true for decades now.

I guess the Democrats didn't, inexplicably.

Which Democrats? Surely not the ones who teamed up with their fellow congress critters to bipartisan legislation on immigration which Trump promptly scuttled to prevent a "Biden win".

 

[BCP1928]

I'm going to point out again that neither Real ID nor an SSN verifies that someone is a citizen. They indicate at best that someone is a legal resident. I say "at best" because I have personally known of people who have both and are not legal citizens.

If you want to verify citizenship, you have to have either an Enhanced ID (currently available only in five states) or carry a passport.

Except in North Carolina, which doesn't recognize a valid US passport as an identifying document. Does ICE? Or will they just seize and destroy it?

 

[Gregory Thompson]

https://www.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/556b19c0-ab07-440f-b3c2-43103400cb8c

Guess it doesn't matter.

 

[RDKirk]

Except in North Carolina, which doesn't recognize a valid US passport as an identifying document. Does ICE? Or will they just seize and destroy it?

Why would you think ICE would seize and destroy a passport?

 

[BCP1928]

Why would you think ICE would seize and destroy a passport?

To not have to acknowledge the citizenship of someone they have arrested.

 

[RDKirk]

To not have to acknowledge the citizenship of someone they have arrested.

Do you have any actual reason to think that happens, or are you just poisoning the well?

 

[BCP1928]

Do you have any actual reason to think that happens, or are you just poisoning the well?

I think they are outlaw cops and can't be trusted.

ICE agents ram car to take man into custody in Boyle Heights

A man was arrested in Boyle Heights Wednesday morning after ICE agents rammed into his car and pinned it between two unmarked cars.

abc7.com

They can make warrantless arrests in any manner they want and don't have to account for the whereabouts or the fate of the people they pick up. Do you trust them?

 

[civilwarbuff]

Maybe we need REALLYREAL ID?
Authorities wrestled a US-born citizen to the ground, cuffed him and dismissed his so-called Real ID as “fake” during an arrest operation targeting undocumented people on Wednesday under the direction of the Trump administration, according to a viral video and reporting by Telemundo.
Maybe we need REALLYREAL ID?

Like a Costco card?

No, you can't use your Costco card as Real ID at the airport, TSA says

Costco membership cards will not function as Real IDs at airports, the TSA said on social media.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[The Barbarian]

If you don't want to be treated like a criminal, don't carry fake ID, or film the police doing their constitutional duties.

Ironically, the Constitution protects people filming the police. Supreme Court has repeatedly confirmed this right. What the Court has verified is that it's unlawful to seize the phone of a person filming the police.

It's illegal to film the police in North Korea. And the police there have the right to demand ID from any person. And it's unlawful there to carry fake ID.

But none of that is true here. Unless you use fake ID for fraudulent purposes or to lie to the police, you're free to carry a card designating you as Lord Zogan, Emperor of the Moon. Some people don't like others having that much freedom. They might be more comfortable in North Korea.

 

[RestoreTheJoy]

Odd, that. Couldn't possibly be trumped up charges to cover up the government's embarrassment. I'm not saying that they definitely are, but you have to admit that the timing is suspicious.

Notably, he has pled Not Guilty. We shall see how the trial goes - remember, innocent until proven guilty, right?

Only suspicious if you overlook the body camera footage of his traffic stop a couple years ago.
Everyone pleads not guilty; only those who make bargains to rat out someone plead for a lower sentence. That isn't notable at all.

Yes, our standard is innocent until proven guilty.

 

[NxNW]

Why would you think ICE would seize and destroy a passport?

They seem to be intent in disappearing anyone they don't like.

 

[NxNW]

Do you have any actual reason to think that happens, or are you just poisoning the well?

You mean other than the multiple examples posted on this forum?

 

[RDKirk]

You mean other than the multiple examples posted on this forum?

Give me a specific example of that happening. Someone had a passport or a passport card and an ICE agent tore it up.

 

[BCP1928]

Give me a specific example of that happening. Someone had a passport or a passport card and an ICE agent tore it up.

I did not say that anyone had done it, just that such a thing is easily within the moral compass of ICE, What happens when they take an ID from a suspect they are arresting? Do they ever give it back? We don't always know because we don't always know what happens to them.

 

[RDKirk]

I did not say that anyone had done it, just that such a thing is easily within the moral compass of ICE,

That post wasn't to you. That post was to @NxNW, who had said:

You mean other than the multiple examples posted on this forum?

So, I want to know at least one of the "multiple examples posted on this forum."

What happens when they take an ID from a suspect they are arresting? Do they ever give it back? We don't always know because we don't always know what happens to them.

As an intelligence briefer, I had a commander who once told me, "Tell me what you know and tell me what you think, but be sure to tell me the difference."

It's more than "we don't always know"...do you actually know of any circumstance that it's happened?
Otherwise, it's just a bald-faced prejudicial assertion that it's ever happened at all.

 

[The Barbarian]

It's since been revealed that ICE is hiring criminals pardoned for their part in Jan 6 riots, it's not surprising that this kind of thing is going on. They aren't the sharpest tools in the shed. Someone with brown skin, in their eyes, must be an illegal alien.

 

[NxNW]

Why would you think ICE would seize and destroy a passport? Do you have any actual reason to think that happens, or are you just poisoning the well?

So, I want to know at least one of the "multiple examples posted on this forum."

Rather than spend my morning linking to other threads with examples of IDs being confiscated or dismissed as fake, I'll provide external links.

Note that if agents are permitted to simply ignore a genuine ID, then anyone anywhere can be arrested for any reason.

US Citizen handcuffed and told his Real Id was fake.

ID confiscated or destroyed. – BP agents verbally abused Jaime [name changed to protect privacy], saying that Venezuelans have no right to be in the US and that the problems in Venezuela are not their problem. A BP agent confiscated his cellphone, earbuds, money, and Venezuelan ID. He took the ID and cut it in half with scissors in front of Jaime.

… We interviewed 16 migrants who arrived in New York by bus from Texas. All but four said they had important documents taken and not returned. And volunteers, case workers, and lawyers who work with the migrants also told us the problem is widespread.

Beberlyn, 33, a migrant from Venezuela who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border earlier this year, said Border Patrol agents kept several of her family’s personal documents, including their passports, Venezuelan identification cards, her children’s birth certificates and her husband’s drivers license.

…Maria, another Venezuelan migrant living in a New York City shelter with her family, said Border Patrol agents failed to return her children’s birth certificates and vaccine records, as well as her and her husband’s passports and identification cards. She asked for her surname to be omitted, citing her pending case.

In Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley Sector, “The National Butterfly Center (located in Mission, Texas) has found photo identification, birth certificates, and bank account information at its facility or on the perimeter, where migrants are often apprehended. The organization has collected at least ten sets of identification documents in the last year alone. Other advocates who operate in the Rio Grande Valley Sector report finding discarded police reports, medical records, passports, immigration papers, and other documents that could be vital to substantiating an asylum claim.”

When BP apprehended Samuel [name changed to protect privacy], agents confiscated all his belongings. They took his phone and removed the SIM card and pocketed it, took his wallet that had $300 in it and removed the credit cards and pocketed them as well. They ripped up his birth certificate in front of him. The agents were speaking in English amongst themselves, so he couldn’t understand what they were saying. He was only able to save his Mexican ID because he had previously hid it in his shoe.

BP apprehend Brayan [name changed to protect privacy] and confiscated all his personal belongings- $1,800 pesos ($89 USD), a chain with a diamond ring that his father had given to him, a Bible, the keys to his home, his cell phone with all of his contacts, his Mexican IDs, and birth certificate.


When there is no accountability, abuse is widespread.

 

[Fantine]

What's the big deal. He was let go right? They verified his identity and let him go. When they round up a pack of illegals they dont know who all they have, because they are illegals. They did their due diligence and released him. Just like they should have.

Excessive force is unwarranted and traumatizing for the innocent victims.
Do not allow yourself to be desensitized to Trump's violence to the degree that your basic humanity is suppressed.