petitefrancaise

You need a GC, but not your passport if you are a LPR.
I guess if you have an L visa or H1b you should have your passport.

lizzyq

Legally no, but if you are naturalized and don't sound American I can see why carrying your American passport could make life much easier.

durham_lad

cranston

Once, outside Tuscon. Just received a verbal telling off.

My logic was it was cheaper to pay the fine that the replacement cost of a green card.

civilservant

Isn't there a US Passport card for use domestically? Problem solved!

Noorah101

My Iranian husband (green card holder at the time) was in the oriental carpet repair business in the USA. He once had to do a road trip from California to Texas to deliver a bunch of rugs. He and another Iranian guy (from the rug shop) were driving a company van, and at some point in Texas they got stopped at a checkpoint. The officer asked what was in the back of the van, and the other guy said "rugs", but with his accent it sounded like "drugs"! You can imagine the scene after that. Hubby had to show his green card then.

Rene

jkeller

The permanent checkpoints on I-10 are 90 miles east of El Paso (Sierra Blanca) for eastbound traffic and 30 miles west of Las Cruces NM for westbound traffic. They stop all traffic and ask if you're a US citizen. The one in Sierra Blanca is famous for catching several music groups tour buses for weed. Last year I was driving back from Phoenix and I got pulled over in Sierra Blanca by the drug dog alerting on my car. The border patrol agent asked where I was coming from and going to. The dog was behind my car and out of my sight. He asked us to exit my car and pop the trunk. He starting naming off all the drugs that the dog could detect. Since me and Mrs jkeller only do blood pressure medicine, I wasn't worried. We both didn't say anything. The dog jumped in the front seats, back seats, and into the trunk. The dog had no kind of reaction that I could see. At this point the agent said he was going to do a swab test and ask us to step inside the building. A couple of minutes later he told me free to go. Again we said nothing, got in the car and went. The agent never asked for my drivers license nor insurance. In hindsight, I've come down to 2 options. The dog false alerted or they just said the dog alerted as a pretense to do a random search. I go through these checkpoints a lot because of my work. In those cases I'm in a company vehicle that has company logos on the doors and tailgates. 99 of of 100 times they just ask US citizen?.....yes....Thankyou, and off I go. The one thing I know for sure is nothing I said would have changed what happened. They wanted to search the car and no amount of denials of drug use from us would have stopped them, it would have only escalated everything.

As you drive up to the checkpoint there are cameras that catch front passengers faces and license plates. Those cameras are for Drug enforcement use, not border patrol. I have no idea what kind of facial tracking they're doing, maybe that's what got me pulled over???? I as said I go through these checkpoints a lot, just not that one though.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United...or_checkpoints

Guindalf

^^^^^^
This.

Giantaxe

Given all they can do is ask whether you're a citizen, you're not required as a citizen to carry any proof. I've been through these checkpoints a few times and just answered I was a citizen. Of course, they could hassle you at this point, but I'm not going to start carrying citizenship proof around to travel in my own country.

The scary thing is they can do this within 100 miles of any border, including seas borders. That encompasses huge population areas on the east and west coasts.

BenK91

I don't carry mine. I've never been asked for it other than employment and gun purchases.

I have a copy of it on my phone. Doesn't seem worth the hassle. If I lose it I have to go through the entire lengthy process of replacing it for the 1 in a million chance I ever get asked for it outside of employment and gun purchases.

Mercury39

Rete

The only proofs of US Citizenship would be your original certified birth certificate and unfortunately, most states do not have a small card version like the UK does or your US Passport. I'm not going to go to the expense of getting a US Passport card when I have a perfectly good 10 year US Passport to travel with.

I can't quote the actual legal requirement but there is one on the USCIS site that says a PR must carry their green card with them at all times. Many are just carrying a snapshot on a phone which can just as easily be stolen, lost or the phone destroyed as the actual card. In the age of the dinosaur it was recommended that you carry the green card as directed and keep a photocopy of the front and back in a safe place at home. Now people are doing it the other way around.

Mr Weeze

rpjs

I always carried my GC. For a while before I got my NY driver's license it was the only pocket-sized ID I had. The only time I was asked for ID by an LEO was after a minor train derailment I was involved in when the NYPD wanted everyone involved's address in case of any follow-up. The cop didn't know what a GC was and was a bit miffed it didn't have my address on.

When I naturalized I decided I still wanted a pocket-sized proof of my new status, because Trumpism. I considered the passport card but as my driver's license was up for renewal I opted for a NY Enhanced Driver's License instead.

jkeller

Just once the border patrol agent's first question to me was "where were you born", me......United Kingdom.......bp agent, short pause( probably first time anyone had ever had that answer) are you a US citizen?....me..yes...bp...thankyou. There might have been some follow up questions if I wasn't in a company car and I had a British accent.