PERMANENT RESIDENTS SUE DMV OVER SEIZED GREEN CARDS

Good. One of the unintended side effects of states around the US changing drivers license rules to require people to document their legal status is that many people who are, in fact, legal, are being challenged by motor vehicle department officials. I'm sure that in most cases we're dealing with poor training. But there are also cases where the motives are more suspect. I was really happy to hear that two green card holders here in Tennessee are suing the state's Department of Public Safety after an official seized their green cards on suspicion of fraud and then kept the cards for months. Never mind that the DHS SAVE program allows state and local officials to check the validity of a document in mere minutes. Green card holders, by the way, are required to carry their document at all times and not doing so is a federal misdemeanor.

Comments

[JoeF]

PoorJoe, you don't seem to know that I am nowadays posting on another lawyer-provided forum, which happens to be managed better, using moderation to avoid personal attacks.
And as far as me being knowledgeable, well, I learned and continue to learn a lot from lawyers like Greg and his newsletter that I subscribe to. So, I am actually rather humble in that respect.
The self-confidence I have, or "head as big as a planet" as you call it, comes from my professional work as a software engineer...

[JoeF]

PoorJoe, you don't seem to know that I am nowadays posting on another lawyer-provided forum, which happens to be managed better, using moderation to avoid personal attacks.
And as far as me being knowledgeable, well, I learned and continue to learn a lot from lawyers like Greg and his newsletter that I subscribe to. So, I am actually rather humble in that respect.
The self-confidence I have, or "head as big as a planet" as you call it, comes from my professional work as a software engineer...

[Greg Siskind]

PoorJoe - We have a basic rule on this blog that we don't personally attack each other. If you can't make a case for your position without doing that, please find another place to comment.

[PoorJoe]

"Several years back, when I posted the same statement on a forum managed by one of the better immigration lawyers, several forum members, tried to ridicule me for it."

Poor JoeF, always so knowledgeable with a head as big as a planet, reduced to keeping a day job. Tear, tear.

[JoeF]

"Green card holders, by the way, are required to carry their document at all times and not doing so is a federal misdemeanor."

Several years back, when I posted the same statement on a forum managed by one of the better immigration lawyers, several forum members, tried to ridicule me for it.
The fear of losing the GC is overblown. How often does somebody lose his or her wallet?
For me, this requirement came to light at the infamous raid at the Randolph Air Force Base in Texas in early 2000. Since then I know that non-immigrants have to have their I-94s with them, and Permanent Residents have to have their GC with them.
When I was a PR, I always carried the GC with me.

[Kalifornian]

The law should be modified to account for tech. If the document can't be produced, let them do finger scan and find out ( within minutes ) that the person is a LPR. Ouch. I forgot the immigration related tech systems are in the bullock cart age ( personal experience with USCIS during the 5 year LPR process ).

[George Chell]

"I have never heard of government officials who would personally pay for their abuse of power/law."

Now this is a good job for irresponsible and incompetent CEOS such as Bob Nardelli of Chrysler...he should have become a prosecutor and he would never have been held accountable or hauled in before the Congress!

[George Chell]

The flip side of this is that I hope states such as Georgia and Arizona make lives miserable for immigrants legal or otherwise, so that they pack and move out of these states...to New York, Wisconisn and Illinois among others. The presence of legal and illegal immigrants resulted in these states getting more electoral votes than they otherwise would have. This made a huge difference in a few elections...2000 comes to mind. Had only citizens been counted for redistricting in 1990, Al Gore would have become President as some of these states would have lost a few electoral votes and states such as New York and Illinois would have gained a few!

[hmm]

Greg, I fully agree with what you just said: getting arrested is a huge concern. I was merely saying that the Government would unlikely to press charges on the matter of not carrying the green card.

I have looked at their complaint (kindly posted by bibdaily.com), and noticed that DMV supervisors are being sued in official as well as individual capacity for monetary damages. I am very interested in your opinion, do you think the judge is likely to make the supervisors personally pay damages? I have never heard of government officials who would personally pay for their abuse of power/law.

[Greg Siskind]

Hmmm - If you think the statement is silly, try seeing what happens if you're pulled over by the police in a 287(g) municipality without your green card.

[hmm]

This is just tip of the iceberg. DMV shrewdly chooses to offer fast track to US citizens (in Georgia where I live now US citizens can renew driver license by mail), while the services offered to non-citizens are of poor quality. Usually this is a result of unfunded mandate by the state legislature who require DMV to comply with immigration laws while providing little or no money for the purpose.

For example, a common problem in Georgia is that people cannot get driver license because the USCIS database that the State has access to is out of date. Last time I was in local USCIS office there have been several people in front of me in this situation, and all the local office could do was to send a correction to the database and ask applicants to wait.

I guess in severe cases taking DMV to court is the only thing that would work.

On the other hand, I find the sentence "green card holders, by the way, are required to carry their document at all times and not doing so is a federal misdemeanor" a bit silly. This is technically true, but in the case at hand the Government would not press charges, and if it did, I would bet 10/1 that any judge would dismiss the case right away.

[USC]

Canada tries to steal high skilled workers from the US:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27962063/

[LPR]

Hi Greg,
"Green card holders, by the way, are required to carry their document at all times and not doing so is a federal misdemeanor."

Similar rules exist to carry Immigration related documents all the time for non-immigrants but a lot of them don't carry them because they may lose them.

Shouldn't a green card holder carry a copy and leave the physical card at a safe location except when traveling by air or out of the country?

I think this rule is not enforced too strictly.

Thanks and best regards.

[George Chell]

Tennessee is a racist state, with all due respects to Greg Siskind and decent people like him who live there. After the elections several newspapers documented this including local papers..so I am not surprised. I met one of their congresswomen in a plane once and her behavior left much to be desired...and who can forget "I met Harold at the playboy party" nonsense back in 2006. I will be very concerned if this nonsense shows up in Hawaii or Washington State...but Tennessee and perhaps Alabama and Mississippi, not surprising.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/us/politics/11south.html?_r=3&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

[Greg Siskind]

The original. Even in cases where the green card is lost or stolen, I recommend carrying the I-90 replacement receipt.

[John Lamb]

"Green card holders, by the way, are required to carry their document at all times and not doing so is a federal misdemeanor."

The original? Or is a copy okay?