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.
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.