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.
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.
“This isn’t real” -ICEcuck
Many others have pointed out multiple probably even more important issues with this. I’d just like to add that it’s actually $30 to the state department and another $30 to the processing department (like the post office if you take it there) and another processing fee for the photograph.
Mine was closer to $100 and cannot be used for international air travel.
So unless you’re planning a cruise or a land crossing, this is a $100 fee to try to avoid getting arrested.
You can take your own photograph or re-use a previous one. It’s free to apply through the post office. Just $30 for the fee to issue one. That’s all I paid for mine.
Edit: This is assuming you have a passport already. If you don’t, then yes, there’s a $35 acceptance fee.
I THOUGHT THIS WAS AMERICA - Randy Marsh
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.
Holy shit that’s so fucking cheap I paid like 200 aud for my Australian passport
That’s because it’s a passport card. Cards are only useful for crossing into Canada or Mexico, or for some carribian islands.
More importantly, it’s not valid to use for entry via airplane anywhere, even if it’s one of the above. So basically most useful for people that commute between regularly or are going on cruises. Or in this case as proof of citizenship.
Full passports are $130 USD. I renewed both in November.
Ahh righto, I assume you need a full passport for a card?
You can apply for a card without getting the book, or you can also apply for the book without getting the card. There’s a combo deal where you can get both for slightly cheaper than if you get them individually.
If you already have a card, applying for a book counts as a “renewal” rather than a new application.
Not at all. And it’s a little cheaper than my state ID (which is not a driver’s license, just an ID) and lasts considerably longer (10 years like a normal passport instead of 2 for the state ID).
Its great value, if you don’t already need a license and don’t plan on doing any air travel.
Oh nice
When was that? My partner paid something like $400 or more last year.
Honestly you might be right on it being $400. I remember it being way more than what I thought would be reasonable and in the hundreds; not the specific number. I filled mine online in VIC with the passport authority late last year. Picked it up and did all the in person paperwork at my local post office. Bloody rip off aye!
Alternate title:
Give the government $30 to stop violating your civil liberties
Definitive proof of citizenship won’t stop ICE from beating or killing you if you have an accent or non-white skin.
The admin is targeting white people. You might have heard of that white woman executed on false pretense recently, celebrated by leadership.
Framing as you do is both incorrect and prevents support to fix problems.
They’re targeting anybody who challenges their authority, starting with people who look different (foreigners first)
what if i don’t have an accent or non-white skin? they won’t beat me, right?
They might still just execute you in the street if they think you’re talking back to them shrug
Usually
I am not going to lie and say it’s 100% effective. But it most certainly will quickly get you out of ICE’s attention 80% of the time when you are not wanting a confrontation at that time.
Edit: I have managed to create a statistic for this. There are 22,000 agents which work for ICE, although this number was 12,000 prior to Trump’s hiring surge (source). ICE claims they made 26,600 arrests in 2025 (source). This means each agent makes about 2 arrests per year on average at most. So unless you believe that most agents are checking only three or four people a year, this would indicate most people are being let go.
From what I’m seeing, ICE doesn’t give a flying fuck if you have a valid ID or not, they’re still going to collar you. Their policy is literally to fuck around first and find out later.
That’s from the videos that get widely shared.
95% of interactions are gonna be them being dicks but backing off when they realize you’re there legally. The other 5% are gonna be the ones you see.
Where do these numbers come from? Internet magic?
Look here mate, you and I both know there’s probably no empirical evidence whatsoever about this. It’s a heuristic based on observations of how law enforcement works and what people choose to post on the Internet. This is like how people post a picture of a deformed boxed pie they bought at the grocery store to complain about it and then you assume that all pies are deformed. No, people only post the bad ones online to complain about it, but if I were to assert that “at least 80% of pies are fine and not deformed” and you choose to reply with “Where do these numbers come from? internet magic?”, I think you can see the inherent ridiculousness of that reasoning.
I really hate that on the Internet you really have to explain to people that the things they see posted there are almost always the exceptions rather than the rule.
Edit: I have managed to create a statistic for this. There are 22,000 agents which work for ICE, although this number was 12,000 prior to Trump’s hiring surge (source). ICE claims they made 26,600 arrests in 2025 (source). This means each agent makes about 2-3 arrests per year on average at most. So unless you believe that most agents are checking only three or four people a year, this would indicate most people are being let go.
There is empirical evidence, tho. We have numbers for how many people ICE has detained, and how many of those have been legal citizens. And it’s a fucking lot.
Yep, I found the evidence. It supports my point of view. I’ll paste it below.
I have managed to create a statistic for this. There are 22,000 agents which work for ICE, although this number was 12,000 prior to Trump’s hiring surge (source). ICE claims they made 26,600 arrests in 2025 (source). This means each agent makes about 2 arrests per year on average at most. So unless you believe that most agents are checking only three or four people a year, this would indicate most people are being let go.
deleted by creator
There are many ways to be there legally without being a citizen.
Yeah, and if you have a green card or passport with a visa it’s “probably” fine, unless they’re having a bad day or whatever.
I’m not sure about a passport from a visa waiver country though, because no shot ICE agents know that Lithuanians and Singaporeans can be in the US without a visa.
I’d love to know where 80% comes from. Because I’m in Minnesota and can see what’s happening on our streets. Where are you getting your info from? You sound soooooo sure of yourself and what you are saying contradicts evidence.
It’s a guess without any empirical evidence whatsoever. However, the only reason why you believe it “contradicts evidence” is because nobody ever talks about ICE encounters that go down peacefully. People only ever talk about and post about ICE encounters that are outrageous. So all the encounters you have ever heard of will be ones where someone gets wrongfully arrested/beaten up by agents/etc.
When I saw them, they were checking everyone and arrested 0 people in the time I observed them.
I should not have to explain to you that what you see on the Internet has a heavy selection bias towards the extreme and that for every one video of something stupid happening there’s hundreds more unfilmed of ordinary interactions which aren’t interesting enough to get posted at all.
Edit: I have managed to create a statistic for this. There are 22,000 agents which work for ICE, although this number was 12,000 prior to Trump’s hiring surge (source). ICE claims they made 26,600 arrests in 2025 (source). This means each agent makes about 2 arrests per year on average at most. So unless you believe that most agents are checking only three or four people a year, this would indicate most people are being let go.
You think ICE cares? You think ICE even understands that?
I have been stopped by ICE and was let go after showing my passport card.
It’s not a guarantee, but it doesn’t hurt.
Work will set you free.
I’m 100% not showing my papers.
Yeah fuck this.
I have papers, they’re holstered and chambered. there’s about 17 pages of papers too.
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.
They can still just detain you because they can steal it or say there’s no way to verify your passport or ID isn’t fraudulent without further investigation so how about you spend a few days or weeks in jail while we sort it out 😉
But yes it is still a good idea and won’t hurt
Apparently ICE doesn’t have to look at it.
Ah, just like Trump wanted.
Do not do this if you are transgender or have an X gender marker.
Warnins should probably be bigger and up front, but that’s just me
What a time to be alive.
