Orange County teen carrying his birth certificate to prove citizenship
As immigration operations continue, some are taking additional steps to prepare for unexpected encounters with federal agents.
"With everything happening in our community, there was definitely that sense of, 'Am I safe? I'm a citizen. Am I OK? How can I prove that?" Santa Ana community advocate Maria Corona said.
Corona helped a 15-year-old get his original birth certificate after immigration agents detained his father. The teen worried that he needed proof of citizenship if he was ever taken into custody like his dad.
"He had a photocopy of his birth certificate," Corona said. "It was just a copy of a copy. He just needed an original copy of the document just to have on his person. Just something that identified him as a citizen, but what he had in his hand wasn't an official document."
Immigration attorney Mike Husain said that while citizens are not legally required to carry documentation, he recommends it to his clients.
"You don't have to have proof of U.S. citizenship on you if you are walking around," Husain said. "You're not required to carry your American passport but to make it easier for everybody and for yourself, instead of having to argue with an arresting officer from law enforcement, it's advisable to carry some proof of your citizenship to avoid the confrontation and argument."
Santa Ana Congressman Lou Correa's office said residents can use their Real ID, an original birth certificate, a U.S. passport or a U.S. passport card as proof of citizenship.
Husain recommended that naturalized citizens carry their certificate of naturalization.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Justin Baldoni Drops Taylor Swift Extortion Claims, Blake Lively's Lawyers Respond
Justin Baldoni's legal team has dropped its subpoena against Taylor Swift, which previously claimed Blake Lively's team was trying to extort the music star. The subpoena dropping was confirmed by a spokesperson for Lively (via TheWrap), with Lively's legal team saying they were 'pleased' that Baldoni's team stopped a 'harassing' probe into Swift and Lively's relationship. 'We supported the efforts of Taylor's team to quash these inappropriate subpoenas directed to her counsel and we will continue to stand up for any third party who is unjustly harassed or threatened in the process,' the spokesperson said. 'The Baldoni and Wayfarer team have tried to put Taylor Swift, a woman who has been an inspiration for tens of millions across the globe, at the center of this case since day one,' the statement continued. 'Exploiting Taylor Swift's celebrity was the original plan in Melissa Nathan's scenario planning document, and it continues to this day. Faced with having to justify themselves in federal court, they folded. At some point they will run out of distractions from the actual claims of sexual harassment and retaliation they are facing.' In a letter filed in court last week (via THR) from Baldoni's lawyer Bryan Freedman, Baldoni's team alleges that Michael Gottlieb, who is representing Lively, reached out to the legal firm that represents Swift, Venable. According to the letter, Gottlieb 'demanded that Ms. Swift release a statement of support for Ms. Lively, intimating that, if Ms. Swift refused to do so, private text messages of a personal nature' would be released. Freedman's letter went on to say that Swift's legal team responded to the request in at least one written message. The letter Freedman entered into court is looking to have those communications released, claiming that they prove that Lively's team is essentially trying to intimidate a witness in Baldoni and Lively's ongoing legal battle. In response to the letter, Gottlieb said that the accusations are 'categorically false,' and that the use of anonymous sources is 'cowardly' from Freedman. The post Justin Baldoni Drops Taylor Swift Extortion Claims, Blake Lively's Lawyers Respond appeared first on - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Government says Harvard researcher accused of smuggling frog embryos brought 'biological materials'
BOSTON (AP) — Attorneys argued over whether a Harvard researcher accused of smuggling frog embryos brought 'biological materials' into the U.S. in a court hearing Wednesday. Kseniia Petrova, a Russian-born scientist conducting cancer research for Harvard Medical School, appeared in Massachusetts federal court Wednesday for a probable cause hearing, where government and defense attorneys argued over whether she brought 'biological materials' into the U.S., ABC News reported. She was returning from a vacation from France in February when she was questioned by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at Boston Logan International Airport. Petrova, 30, had stopped at a lab specializing in splicing superfine sections of frog embryos and obtained a package of samples for research. Federal officials on the social media website X accused her of lying about 'carrying substances' into the country and alleged that she planned to smuggle the embryos through customs without declaring them. She told The Associated Press in an interview in April that she did not realize the items needed to be declared and was not trying to sneak anything into the country. Petrova was told her visa was being canceled and detained by immigration officials in Vermont after her initial arrest. She filed a petition seeking her release and was briefly sent to an ICE facility in Louisiana, after which a judge ruled the immigration officers' actions were unlawful. In May, she was charged with one count of smuggling. The Homeland Security Investigations agent who wrote the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, Brian Goldsworthy, testified Wednesday that Petrova would not have been able to leave the airport had she declared the frog embryos in her luggage, ABC News reported. He said that Customs and Border Protection agriculture experts and a federal laboratory that reviewed the samples deemed them to be biological material, ABC News reported. Petrova's attorney argued it was unclear what definition the government was operating under and the requirement to declare items entering the country doesn't hinge on whether something is a biological material, ABC News reported. After Wednesday's hearing, both sides will now have the opportunity to submit briefs to the judge. If convicted of the smuggling charge, Petrova faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Advocates call for hate crime charges for woman who defaced Pilsen mural
A nonprofit civil rights advocacy group called Wednesday for hate crime charges to be brought against a woman accused of attacking another woman, who caught her defacing a painting of a Palestinian man on a mural in the Pilsen neighborhood. Natalie Figueroa said she was walking home from her workplace late Friday when she noticed a woman defacing the mural on 16th Street and Ashland Avenue. When Figueroa tried to interfere, the woman struck her in the head with a metal three-hole punch and pummeled her face. Onlookers called the police, who arrived at the scene but made no arrests. Representatives at CAIR-Chicago, which advocates for civil rights for Muslims, urged Chicago police to charge the suspect with aggravated assault and a hate crime. Various speakers at the news conference lamented the desecration of a mural that they saw as a symbol of peace. No arrests had been made in the alleged attack, police said Wednesday evening. The mural, painted by Palestinian artist Taqi Spateen, depicts a Mexican man lying in a field with a Palestinian man, and is meant to represent solidarity between the Latino and Palestinian communities. The woman who vandalized the artwork burned off the section depicting the Palestinian man's face. 'Here in Chicago, we are seeing a significant escalation of hate crimes rooted in anti-Islamic and anti-Arab sentiment,' said Heena Musabji, legal director at CAIR. 'We are here to demand … that criminal actions based on hate are charged as actual hate crimes.' A still-bruised Figueroa, who sported a sizable lump on her forehead, told reporters she approached the woman and yelled at her to stop defacing the mural. The woman, she said, swung around with a metal three-hole punch in her hand and hit Figueroa on her head. As the women fought, Figueroa ended up on the ground, the other woman pinning her down and repeatedly pummeling her face. Figueroa said that her assailant taunted her during the attack, jeering that police would not arrest her. So far, Figueroa has been unable to prove her wrong. CAIR's news conference urged Chicago police to arrest the suspect, who, according to Figueroa, walked away from the scene after police had arrived and was not followed. Four days after the attack, Figueroa still had two black eyes and a bruised left arm. Arriving at her job at the event space Hoste on Wednesday morning, she said, she was confronted with 'Nazi symbols' spraypainted on the building. She believes them to be related to Friday's incident. Human rights attorney Farah Chalisa is working in partnership with the legal team at CAIR to represent Figueroa and another victim, who was attacked by the same woman at the same mural in May. 'What happened was not simply an act of vandalism — it was a hate-driven assault,' Chalisa said. A hate crime charge is a Class 4 felony in Illinois. Spateen's mural was commissioned as part of the Mural Movement, founded in 2020 by Delilah Martinez. All 231 murals Martinez has organized nationwide are related to social justice and peace. Spateen is from Bethlehem, a Palestinian town, and is staying in Chicago as part of an art residency. His mural, one of dozens in Pilsen, is the only work that the suspect has defaced. According to Figueroa and the other victim, she has thrown trash at the mural and placed feces around it. 'This mural — if that's not an artwork of love, I don't know what love is,' said CAIR Executive Director Ahmed Rehab. 'The defacing of that mural — if that's not an act of hate, I don't know what hate is.' Ald. Byron Sigcho Lopez, 25th, explained that many people in Pilsen view the attacker as a threat. Last week, Lopez said, she showed up at a community meeting wearing a wig and sunglasses and prompted Lopez's staff to call security.
