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A greencard holder is supposed to carry his/her greencard at all times (I am one too). If he doesn't want to risk being detained on the way home, best thing wo9uld be to overnight his gc to him.
Well it still doesn't make sense - even though as an LPR he SHOULD be carrying his greencard, any VALID ID should be enough for USCIS to look him up in the database and confirm he's a registered alien, and I doubt it would require a "6 hour interrogation".
I live in ohio and my husband he drove to texas because he is a wholesaler. He went to new mexico, not thinking he would need his green card because new mexico is a us state. He usually carries it with him but he forgot for the texas trip. He got in new mexico but somehow ran into a homeland security check point. He has never been in that situation so yeah, they asked for id, and he showed them. They said are you a us citizen he said no, they asked for his green card and he said i don't have with me. They detained my husband for 6 hours and he was pretty much interragated. my husband has never been in trouble and lets just say he was pretty scared. now he don't know what to do, because he says there is another check point on the other side and they told him if he goes through they will probably do the same thing to him. is there anyway he can get out of there and get home to me. i'm so worried about him, and this is just crazy!? Please help if you can!
Common Sense: if you look like Lou Diamond Phillips, don't leave your Green Card/U.S. Passport at home!!!
I ran into the Arizona checkpoint driving west on I-10. It can be expected.
A 'foreign' traveler should ALWAYS carry documentation. No excuses.
FedEx or Postal the card - OVERNIGHT.
next time, have him just explain that the card was in his wallet but he took it out to fill out some form and forgot to put it back in. beliive me they understand that but will still have him go throught the process of verification, especially if he's involved in commerce (probably driving a type of vehicle that screemed "working"). They may make it a big deal but they probably run across just as many US citizens driving who don;t have their drivers licnese with them, and I bet some of them probably forgot their wallets or IDs a few times themself. Don't expect them to just treat it as a dumb mistake cause they have to follow procedures but they do know it happens.
he is required under the law to always carry the I-551 with him. US citizens are not required to carry any identification but he is and the card must be with him at all times. You can have a copy of the card (with the number clearly readable) faxed to him and its often accepted because he's already in the computers as being stopped without the card, so they know he's cleared and that he's trying to comply by at least having the card copy with him until he gets back home.
Make sure nothing he does arouses suspicion as in trying to compensate for not having the card by not acting himself. He forgot the card, it happens, just deal with the situation as it comes up.
I often have to travel to countries who's love for the US is not very high and me and the others often will leave any and all US documents at the office and carry only our foreign documents. I;ve had to enter the US with a foreign papers and explain why we don;t have out US passports or documents with us. I'm lucky that we deal with the same DHS people and they are familar with our situauion.
If you can overnight the documents to hom, that's great, but at least try and get hiom a copy or at the very least, he should have his identification number and just explain he forgot the card due to absentmindness.
Just wanted to add, don;t know if they had it available where he was, but they do have these release documents that say the person's identity was checked. It won't stop him getting detained again, but it would show the infomation so the next check would be faster. Who knows, he may run into the same person on the return trip.
Last edited by PacificFlights; 12-09-2010 at 03:11 PM..
Reason: new thought
Well it still doesn't make sense - even though as an LPR he SHOULD be carrying his greencard, any VALID ID should be enough for USCIS to look him up in the database and confirm he's a registered alien, and I doubt it would require a "6 hour interrogation".
Something's fishy.
I am a US citizen that has to travel from time to time with foreign documents and not my US Passport. They can verify our identities in minutes but from time to time, depending on workload, circumstances, political feeelings at t he moment, or plain backlog, it can take hours to be cleared. I've been cleared in as little as 5 minutes at a major airport with heavy DHS presence and its taken 4 hours the next month. It all depends on everything else going on. Imagine the situation at some roving roadside checkpoint.
We were driving from Houston to California and went through a checkpoint in El Paso. They stopped all the cars and 'asked' everyone if they were a US citizen. I am German but have lived in the US as a resident alien since I was 5. I should have just said 'American' but I was honest and said I was German. I was then asked for my passport and/or green card, neither of which I had. I explained that they were both back in Houston in my bank's safety deposit box. That wasn't good enough for them. Neither was my driver's license. It wasn't until I showed them my university student ID card that they finally let us go.
Well it still doesn't make sense - even though as an LPR he SHOULD be carrying his greencard, any VALID ID should be enough for USCIS to look him up in the database and confirm he's a registered alien, and I doubt it would require a "6 hour interrogation".
Something's fishy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PacificFlights
I am a US citizen that has to travel from time to time with foreign documents and not my US Passport. They can verify our identities in minutes but from time to time, depending on workload, circumstances, political feeelings at t he moment, or plain backlog, it can take hours to be cleared. I've been cleared in as little as 5 minutes at a major airport with heavy DHS presence and its taken 4 hours the next month. It all depends on everything else going on. Imagine the situation at some roving roadside checkpoint.
^^This
And it's worth remembering that the DHS officers ca be a bit dickish sometimes.
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