Is ICE taking passports from us citizens
Executive summary
Official ICE guidance authorizes confiscation and retention of identity documents from noncitizens in the course of removal or criminal proceedings, and civil-society reporting and recent news show U.S. citizens and lawful residents increasingly fear their passports will be seized or that they will be detained despite citizenship; however, the agency’s policy documents focus on noncitizens while multiple news outlets document instances of citizens being stopped, detained, or reporting that agents have refused certain IDs [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. What ICE policy actually says about seizing documents
Internal ICE guidance accessed and summarized in policy memos explicitly contemplates confiscating and retaining original identity documents—passports, driver’s licenses and similar items—when initiating removal proceedings or for criminal prosecutions, and requires logging and retention of such items in A-files or prosecution folders [1].
2. How that policy applies — and to whom — in theory
The ICE guidance cited is written in the context of actions against noncitizens, including lawful permanent residents, and frames document seizure as part of immigration enforcement and criminal prosecution processes rather than a routine action against U.S. citizens [1].
3. What reporters and communities are seeing on the ground
Multiple recent accounts from mainstream outlets and local reporting describe extensive enforcement operations where U.S. citizens—particularly people of color and those with accents—report being stopped, questioned, detained or searched, and citizens describe carrying passports and other documents out of fear; The New York Times, The Guardian and other outlets have documented people sleeping with passports or foregoing travel because of concern that officials will seize them [2] [3] [5].
4. Document seizure in practice: immigrants vs. citizens in reporting
Advocates and legal clinics have long documented ICE and CBP seizure of passports and other identity documents from migrants and asylum-seekers, sometimes with legal challenges claiming denial of due process when originals aren’t returned, while news coverage of recent crackdowns emphasizes that citizens are being detained erroneously or subject to aggressive stops—even if formal policy targets noncitizens [6] [7] [8].
5. Official statements and legal context about citizens and detention
Government spokespeople and legal experts quoted in reporting stress that ICE does not have authority to deport U.S. citizens, and that prompt proof of citizenship—such as a U.S. passport—is typically the quickest remedy to secure release from mistaken detention; yet officials and advocates also report incidents where agents initially refused Real ID-style identification or detained people until citizenship could be verified [4] [9].
6. Why many U.S. citizens now carry passports anyway
Coverage from USA TODAY, KQED and local radio notes that because of recent enforcement escalations and accounts of racial profiling, many U.S. citizens and residents choose to carry passports or passport cards to avoid misidentification and possible detention, and civil-rights groups have publicly urged people to carry “papers” as a practical precaution [10] [4] [11].
7. Assessment: Is ICE taking passports from U.S. citizens?
The available documents show ICE policy authorizes seizure of identity documents in the context of noncitizen enforcement, and reporting documents both long‑standing seizures from migrants and a recent wave of mistaken detentions of U.S. citizens that have created a climate where citizens fear passports will be taken or that agents will not accept alternative IDs [1] [6] [2] [3]; the sources do not provide systematic evidence that ICE has a formal policy to seize passports from U.S. citizens, but they do show repeated instances and credible reports of citizens being stopped, sometimes detained, and of agents refusing IDs—facts that have driven citizens to carry passports to prove status [1] [4] [5].
8. What remains uncertain and where to look next
Public reporting and the agency memo together document policy for noncitizens and numerous field incidents affecting citizens, but there is no single public source here proving a written ICE policy specifically directing seizure of U.S. passports from citizens; further clarity would require internal operational records, oversight hearings or court filings cited directly to show systematic seizure of passports from citizens rather than case-by-case incidents [1] [12] [7].