“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.
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.
A Somali-born Minnesota man was alarmed by the practice last Tuesday when immigration agents tackled him, handcuffed him, and arrested him, refusing to accept his REAL ID as proof of his legal residence in a video that was widely circulated on social media.
The man, who identified only as Mubashir, was placed into a chokehold and forced to his knees in the snow on his way to get food in Minneapolis’ Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, which has a large Somali population.
Just a reminder that America does not have a national ID and that while most people think a driver’s license is our ID only 71% of Americans have one. Children, the elderly, people who are too poor to have a car, or people who live in cities that don’t need cars (which is like, 5 cities but is still a notable percent of the population) are all people who may not have an ID and all of them have been rounded up by ICE. This is a further attack on the poor specifically but on the vulnerable in general
All of this is a feature, not a bug.
People in cities are almost all coded as too ethnic, too atheist, too gay, too liberal, too smart, etc…also, if you can punish those who are not properly taking their part in our car culture, that’s a huge win for the trucknutz crowd.
The poor are something the elitists (for all their bullshit talk about things like farming or mining or “the forgotten man”) love to crush anyway. Same for children - they are fodder for wars and the likes of Epstein and Taco’s whims.
Oh I am fully aware, but I find it important to point out the underlying thing they’re exploiting when you see statements like this. Just like passing ID laws and bans on porn are a subtext to censor LGBTQ people
Usually people who don’t have a driver’s license instead acquire a state ID, which is exactly the same but doesn’t license you to drive.
It takes the same effort to get an ID as a license. If I can’t afford one or don’t have the documentation then it’s the same problem.
Do you have any proof of that because I genuinely have not seen that in my experience. Usually it’s social security numbers, birth certificate, passports, and bills that I see as documentation in lieu of driver’s licenses
Proof? I mean, I know that my state issues state IDs (what we always called them in my youth). I’m seeing that you’re better off searching for “non driver identification card” now.
https://nn4youth.org/a-state-by-state-guide-to-obtaining-id-cards/
My point wasn’t that everyone who didn’t have a driver’s license had a state ID instead, rather to counter the implication that people who don’t have a driver’s license don’t have access to government issued photo ID apart from a passport. If you don’t drive, you can still get a non driver’s ID card from your state using the same supporting documentation (apart from the driver’s tests) and fee as a driver’s license.
Oh I misunderstood you then. I thought you were saying that people actually used state IDs. I understand that they are available but in practice I have never seen people using them
Then you’ve never worked somewhere that sold alcohol or tobacco. Your ignorance is your own issue.
Back in the day, in my state you could have both at the same time - and they’d also hold your driver’s license as bond if you got a ticket. So I got both for myself for when that happened.
I have a kid today who doesn’t drive, has state ID. People do actually use state IDs, but it’s really only for people who haven’t already got a driver’s license, or who have had their driver’s license revoked, so they’re definitely not as common.
But they’re there, and if you can’t have a driver’s license, you should definitely get a state ID. I don’t know what situation you’re in where you’re being presented with identification, but it might be a nice idea to make sure people whose paths you cross without photo ID are aware of their options where you are.
What? I used a state ID before I got my DL, as did everybody in my high school?
And many Americans on the right would tell you that a national ID is government overreach. Yeah I heard that from a coworker last year.