1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

Recent comments by Kristi Noem (chatgpt://generic-entity?number=0) suggesting that Americans should expect to “show their papers” during ICE operations are not just reckless rhetoric. They are fundamentally incompatible with the Constitution. In the United States, citizens are not required to carry proof of citizenship. Law enforcement does not have general authority to stop people in public and demand identification absent reasonable, articulable suspicion of a crime. Immigration status is not a crime, and citizenship cannot be inferred from race, language, accent, or appearance. A “papers please” approach directly collides with the Fourth Amendment. Demanding identification without individualized suspicion constitutes an unreasonable seizure. Entering homes or detaining people based on administrative immigration warrants, rather than judicial warrants, further violates core Fourth Amendment protections. The Fifth Amendment is also implicated. Forcing citizens to prove who they are or justify their presence flips the presumption of liberty on its head. Due process means the government bears the burden, not the individual. Rights do not depend on compliance or documentation. Equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment cannot survive a regime that only functions through selective enforcement. History and reality show that identity checks fall disproportionately on people who are Latino, Indigenous, Black, or who speak accented English. A policy that requires profiling to operate is unconstitutional by design. The First Amendment suffers as well. When people fear being stopped, questioned, or detained for asserting their rights, speech, protest, and press activity are chilled. That suppression does not need a written ban to be real. There is no constitutional carve-out that allows federal agencies to suspend civil liberties in the name of convenience or enforcement efficiency. The United States deliberately rejected national identity checks because they are incompatible with a free society. Americans do not prove their rights to the government. The government is bound by the Constitution, even when it finds those limits inconvenient.