Originally Posted by
König
Some people like to make a problem out of nothing. Emergency passports are issued mainly for the purpose of returning to a country of citizenship from abroad. Check-in agents probably know about emergency/temporary passports' existence, and if not, then their supervisors should know 100%. So, if I were the OP, I would get a temporary passport, buy a ticket (preferably from a European carrier, e.g., Lufthansa or SAS) and fly home. At a TSA podium, I would just use my Green Card as identification.
Also, it would be a good idea to apply for a local state ID even if there is no need to drive. California ID cards are quite cheap (~$30) and they can easily be issued on the basis of Green Card and SSN. I personally have both a California DL and an ID card. They look virtually identical, and once (just for fun) I even used an ID card to rent a U-Haul truck :-) Nobody noticed the difference. At least the OP could then fly domestically without carrying immigration documents with her every time (i.e., Swedish passport or Green Card).
Never been hit by (or known people hit by) this kind of situation? You seem to be sort of unfamiliar with the various emergency passport replacement docs provided by foreign consulates -- particularly the Swedish ones -- in the U.S. and the reports these consulates get back about some problems encountered when using them at check-in and with the TSA. Sadly, there are problems from time to time.
The OP should possess an LPR card, right. That should be accepted by the TSA, but the US airlines in the main won't accept it for international travel; and having that LPR card along with the emergency travel doc isn't always accepted by airline staff.
Does everyone with US LPR status (and card for such status) have a SSN? [I still see US Passports issued for people without SSNs.] Isn't it still possible to be a US LPR without a SSN? Still possible to get a CA state ID without a SSN and use it for federal inspection purposes?