Simply put...they're law enforcement officers. Simply declaring something secure (please, let's not get into the effectiveness or lack thereof regarding security screening) doesn't make it so. No system in existence can provide absolute security. Most cops worldwide carry weapons, yet they are rarely used since most contacts don't result in deadly force. The weapons are carried so that LE can effectively respond in the event, however unlikely, that a deadly force scenario occurs. LE without weapons to adequately defend themselves and those they are sword to protect is rather pointless. Even countries like the that have historically avoided arming their police are yielding to the threats faced by their officers and are fielding armed officers in greater numbers.

TB

Unfortunately, your entire post is about someone who technically IS documented, meaning he has a valid document called a US driver's license. What would be more relevant to know is whether a person who has no valid federal or state-issued ID can still fly domestically within the US.

So, in essence, none of these statements are actually addressing the question.

Most people without legal papers drive or take the bus (even on long long trips) to get to their destination for fear of being deported on the spot at an airport. But does anyone reading this know of a situation where a person tried to take a flight without a) sharing their actual identity or b) being here legally? What actually DOES happen when an undocumented person tries flying domestically? I actually need to know...

Buffalo & Rochester
 

Note that CBP also checks papers on the Lake Shore Limited (Amtrak) between Buffalo and Rochester.

What a great country we live in. :rolleyes:

might ask a uniformed person to tell me what they are intending to get, to see if they are willing to be open about it. If they get cagey, then I'd decline. Because they are hiding cards for some purpose, and that aint American in my book.

Amtrak is off limits for the same reason flights are. Usually.

To put this in perspectives, thousands of young people from the US overstay their visas in Europe every year, but they still seem pretty unconcerned about travel once they are in a given country. Most Americans can go to the most popular destinations without thinking twice about a visa, if they have a passport.

If an undocumented person were to purchase a passport from their consulate in the US, I would then assume they could use it to travel domestically, whether or not it actually had a valid visa stamp. Correct?

To answer the title question - no. Your friend is here illegal and is hopefully caught and deported.

Yes.

You do not need papers to travel within the USA. I travel all the time with only a drivers license. Domestic travel does not require proof of legal citizenship, residency, or immigration status.

SR

Undocumented immigrant with a valid state ID
 

Long story short I'm an illegal immigrant in US. I came here with my parents when I was younger from europe. We were legal for about 5 years and I have a legal Illinois Drivers License and also social security. So with that said am I able to fly domestically? I'm looking to go on vacation with my girlfriend who is a US citizen. We would be flying from Chicago Ohare to Miami/FT Lauderdale area sometime next month, but I have no idea if I can. Will I be caught etc? Anyone have any experience or know anything? Any information would be helpful! Thank you!

I don't see a problem. You don't give us any reason to think TSA won't accept your licence and treat you like any other passenger.

Go for it. TSA won't bother you

Get in your car and Drive-Drive-Drive.

You may be surprised at what DHS knows about you.
It could ruin a perfectly good vacation, maybe your life.
I wouldn't chance it, not to mention the feeling up of your girlfriend.

Paranoia at its finest.

You could be deported from US. If you come in USA illegally. You will barred from US for 5 to 10 years. You will being caught from TSA. If you come at airport. You could be arrested.

Um, no, not in this case.

Don't listen to him; this is just bad information.

TSA can't arrest or deport you. They can report anything 'suspicious' to people who can arrest or deport you.

That being said, why would the TDC (document checker) give a valid driver's license a second glance?

The airline does report name, birthdate, and gender to the TSA for a no-fly list. However, I think that is would be illegal for cops to use the airport data as a method to catch non-terror related crimes. (But who really knows with the Patriot Act?!?)

A few typos in the (In)Secure Flight data for birthdate and/or gender data has yet to stop my flights.

The odds of having a problem on such a trip in such situation is so slim as to be negligible. Enjoy your trip with your girlfriend and best of luck with getting your status adjusted or otherwise making a decision that suits your needs going forward.

As long as it is a regular IL DL and not a TVDL, you should be fine. I'd leave your SS card at home for sure; you don't need it and you don't want the TSA to see it.

The TSA checks for valid ID, not immigration status (unless you give them reason to like a foreign passport from a suspect country); presenting a valid state DL is just fine. Leave any foreign passport at home, too.

Why would it be illegal?

Wrong. He has a valid license and that's all u need to travel in US. TSA screener has no need to double check a valid license. Even if they run the DL numbers it will show valid. Have fun on you trip.

If a government agency collects private data for one purpose, and then another agency searches through it to try to detect unrelated criminal activity, wouldn't that violate the Fourth Amendment? Or at least some sort of data privacy laws?

Can the IRS pull credit reports of everyone with an FHA mortgage to search for tax evaders? <shrug>

Oops - looks like I'm wrong:

The TSA is not the problem, Border Patrol is. A year or two ago I was getting off the Amtrak at the Fort Lauderdale station and there were Border Patrol all over the platform conducting immigration inspections. It's not inconceivable that you could bump into them at the domestic airport. They have been known to do this at Buffalo, for example. The chances of this happening to you are extremely slim, but just be aware that the possibility does exist. I hope you are eventually able to straighten out your immigration status.

Just curious as to how they determine who may be illegal from this, assuming whoever they are questioning has papers everyone else had?

I don't know. I told the guy that I was a US citizen and that my friend was a permanent resident. He didn't ask me for any ID and he asked my friend if he had his green card on him, which he happened to have on him at the time.

IL and FL are both not safe. I have seen border patrol agent at Ft. Lauderdale Amtrak station as well... which means they probably work anywhere in FL. (but probably not as bad as AZ and CA)
http://www.aclu.org/national-securit...tion-free-zone
http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/2075/s43der1.jpg

If you were legal once, how did you become illegal? Family member on temp work/student visa and just stayed?

My dad came here with a regular visa at first, established a business, bought a house and got a work visa. We extended that for some time and were working on getting green card papers and then lawyers who were taking care of this, messed some stuff up and we got declined for a green card. With this said I've been here since I was 13. Now I'm 24. Not to be racist or anything but I'm white, and look american-ish. My English is perfect. I finished high school and college here so I don't think just by looking at me anyone would suspect that I'm an immigrant.

I hate to be the one to tell you this: there are plenty of "American-looking" white Canadians in US immigration detention centers right now, waiting deportation.

Illegal immigrant with Illinois ID
 

I do not understand. How can one be legal for five years and then illegal?

Good thing, because LPR's are required by law to have it on them all the time!

If you have a visa that lets you stay in the US for five years and you don't leave then, you've been legal for five years and then become illegal.

Actually, if you stayed in USA for more than 6-months. You will be received green cards. If they are approved. You don't have any complaining against the Immigrations officer.

Catching a Canadian illegally working in the US isn't particularly difficult; catching a Canadian illegally in the US at a spot check is almost impossible. Does the US have access to CBSA records when they reenter Canada? If not, it becomes very difficult to determine whether they overstayed their six months entry periods in the US. Add to this fact that if they are a NAFTA Professional/Business visitor, they can stay up to 3 years. Additionally, Florida will give Canadians two year driver's licenses based solely on Canadian ID.

Putting aside politics, if I were Commissioner of the Arizona State Police given the authority and duty (e.g. the injunction is lifted) to enforce Arizona's laws, I would tell my police to resolve all doubts in favor of the Canadian. It is too easy to make a mistake about their status in the US and would face a PR disaster locking up a couple of sympathetic snow birds from Winnipeg.

The paranoia on this board is just insane sometimes. I lived in Broward County for a while and flew out of FLL almost every week, and not once, ever, saw a CBP/ICE check anywhere. In the airport, at the car rental center, on a highway, in a shopping center, nowhere at all. If you grew up in the US and have a valid DL, you will experience absolutely zero problems on your trip. There are many tens of thousands of illegals floating around South Florida, so if ICE ever was to get a wild hair going and stop some people randomly, they aren't going to question someone with a US accent and a valid DL.

For the paranoid types, ask yourself - how many times has ICE stopped you over the years while inside the US, and what forms of ID did you give, if any? I've only been stopped at highway checkpoints in TX, NM, AZ and CA and it's a verbal Q/A, if even that. They don't check even DLs.

Don't get your legal advice on FT. Go to a good and trustworthy immigration lawyer and get your status adjusted. Sooner or later, if not on this trip, you will bump into the system. Your bigger risk is not from TSA but from SecureFlight which may kick you out of its system for review by DHS/ICE (or not).

For what it's worth, CBP was out in force at LAX on Weds PM, doing spot checks on UA flights so don't count on the fact that somebody else has flown 1000 times without a problem. You only need one mess-up.

That said, you face this problem every day. So, don't make it about flying, make it about getting your status in order.

I have been stopped several times, and not just near the TX, NM, AZ and CA border. Several times in upstate NY and like I said before, once at the Fort Lauderdale Amtrak station.

Also, a quick google search reveals that the TSA plans on teaming up with and doing more joint operations with ICE in the future and not just at the airports: http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/185675.html Just because some random anonymous commenter on this board hasn't run across ICE at the Fort Lauderdale airport, doesn't mean it won't happen in the future. Like poster stated above, it only takes one time to be caught, deported, and banned from the USA. Also, just because you speak pure English and carry a driver's license doesn't mean that you can be worry free. The LEO will still ask you for your citizenship, and while the risks are slim that he will conduct further investigation, if you get caught lying to a federal LEO, I think you will have much bigger problems on your hands. Again, the risks are quite small, but the consequences can be quite severe. Only you can make the determination as to what you are comfortable with.

Or just go on vacation and not worry about it? I agree that the OP needs to get his situation straightened out because eventually it will bite him in the ..., but flying down to Florida is less risky than driving on the interstate and getting pulled over for speeding or something.

There are tens of thousands of Haitian and hispanic illegals floating around South Florida, on top of hundreds of thousands of quasi-legal Cubans and actual legit hispanic immigrants. They simply are not going to hassle anyone who seems at all American. The same goes at LA. You may see ICE/CBP guys floating around, but again, on a domestic flight - where they have absolutely zero authority and absolutely no interest in wasting time - they're not going to care.

There are millions of illegals in the US, and they generally function pretty well, regardless of what the paranoid types on Flyertalk seem to advise. If you only listened to the paranoid types, you would believe that there's a cop or Federal officer waiting around every corner to arrest you or strip search you. That simply is not the case. Guys who argue that if you don't declare a candy bar on your Customs form on re-entry, you'll be arrested for lying and thrown in jail. Stuff like that.

The information is incredibly wrong, or are actual corner cases but are given much higher weight on the pros and cons scale. Remember, you can theoretically be arrested and convicted for tearing the label off of a mattress, or in most states, having oral sex, especially on a mattress where you've torn off the tag. You can be arrested, tried, convicted and even incarcerated for littering, for jaywalking, for spitting on a freaking sidewalk.

This board does good work in flagging TSA abuses and everything, but in many cases, like this thread, posters come off as paranoid, scared people who anticipate the worst-possible outcome to just about any interaction with any form of TSA or law enforcement. Even if, in reality, that worst-case scenario is a once-in-many-millions chances of happening. Not to say they don't from time to time, but the odds extremely small, like 0.000001%

I think you have a higher chance of the plane crashing on the way to Florida, and a much higher chance of your car crashing on the way to the airport, than a random ICE/CBP inspection tripping you up.

You're not being racist, but merely realistic. I always wondered how that AZ anti-illegal law can be enforced or even be acted upon without hassling everyone, rather than only people who aren't lily white (or who once were but are now leathered).

I agree with you on everything else you've said but this one. The CBP may set up a random immigration check anywhere within 100 miles of the border. The OP will be departing and arriving in the places that are less than 100 miles from the border. But like you said, the chances of encountering such a checkpoint are very slim.

We're talking about a person who has lived almost his whole life in the USA and has graduated from college here. Slim chance or not, it's reckless to take any chance, particularly because these situations can be sorted out. But, not after an unfortunate incident.