Green card holders: You can be fined or arrested for not carrying ID

Under Trump's renewed enforcement drive, lawful permanent residents are facing fines for not carrying their green cards - a rule dormant for decades

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A 60-year-old lawful permanent resident in Chicago, Rueben Antonio Cruz, was fined $130 last week after US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents discovered he wasn’t carrying his identification. It was a routine stop that ended without detention but drew attention to a long-dormant federal rule now being revived, according to reports by NBC Chicago and the Chicago Tribune.

 

“This is the second case I've seen in the last month (first involving a person with a green card) of a noncitizen criminally charged for failure to carry papers,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council in a post on X on Tuesday. “It's a law that's been on the books for generations but virtually never used. Now Trump's brought it back.”

 

What does the law say about carrying immigration documents?

 

The rule comes from Section 264 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which has existed since 1940. It requires every non-US citizen aged 18 or older to “at all times carry” proof of registration — usually an alien registration card or green card.

 

Violating this provision is a misdemeanour. While the original fine was capped at $100, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) now interprets general sentencing statutes to allow fines of up to $5,000, or imprisonment for up to 30 days.

 

In March, DHS confirmed this modern interpretation in a new rule: “Noncompliance is a misdemeanour punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 or imprisonment for not more than thirty days, or both.”

 

What changed under Trump in 2025?

 

On January 20, President Trump signed Executive Order 14159 directing agencies to “faithfully execute the immigration laws.” This effectively reversed earlier policies that gave officers discretion in such minor enforcement.

 

By March 2025, DHS and the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) introduced Form G-325R, an online system for people who had never been formally registered — such as those who entered without inspection — to complete the process and obtain documentation they must carry.

 

A public page explaining the form and its requirements went live soon after.

 

Civil-rights groups challenged the rule in Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights v. DHS, arguing that it invites arbitrary policing and racial profiling. The court, however, dismissed the case for lack of standing, saying the plaintiffs hadn’t shown a direct injury.

 

Professor Jonathan Weinberg of Wayne State University Law School called the framework “convoluted, confusing, and significantly incoherent,” as the original registration system has long vanished. NYU Law Professor Nancy Morawetz and immigration researcher Natasha Fernández-Silber have also noted that “no such system exists today” and that current rules inconsistently define who must register and what counts as proof.

 

This partly explains why enforcement of the “carry papers” rule had become rare outside border zones. 

 

Why are green card holders being ticketed now?

 

The 2025 policy push sought to revive dormant parts of the statute by clarifying who counts as “registered” and introducing a process for those who are not.

 

Federal notices now state that all registered noncitizens must keep evidence with them, and failure to do so can lead to fines or criminal charges.

 

In Chicago, the stepped-up operation known as “Operation Midway Blitz” has brought heightened document checks, leading to Cruz’s fine — a practice that local media said had been “rarely seen” until now.

 

What do DHS and USCIS say?

 

Both agencies have pointed to the law itself. USCIS’s public guidance explicitly states that adults must carry “evidence of registration.” The Federal Register notice cites the statutory clause, 8 U.S.C. § 1304(e), which says noncitizens must “at all times carry” their registration card. 

 

What should lawful permanent residents know?

 

< If you are 18 or older and have a green card or any other registration proof, you are legally required to carry it.

< The requirement has always existed but enforcement has historically varied.

< Since April 2025, DHS has implemented Form G-325R for those needing to register and obtain documentation.

< Civil-rights groups continue to challenge the policy, but it remains enforceable unless courts intervene.