See for yourself: https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?a...
I know there were exceptions for Yugoslavians and others but in general, for especially USSR citizens and Western German citizens, the flow of people across the iron curtain was incredibly regulated and especially soviets trying to flee east Germany were regularly executed. So please spare me your diatribe.
The guards, if they chose to at any time, could have detained you and questioned you. The police could have searched you at any time anywhere in the USSR whether you were a citizen or not.
In Russia this is still the case to this day.
Of course all sovereign countries, whether "bad or not" reserve the right to search anything you seek to drag into their borders. This goes without saying! No country is under an obligation to host you, you are a guest.
And no country has to subject itself to sabotage, political incitement, criminal activity, foreign lobbying, espionage, etc, from foreigners. Period.
You don't have a right to import anything in to any country without it being potentially searched. That is called border control. Every country does it to some extent, some more thoroughly than others.
About half of Americans apparently don't have a passport and according to other sources I found only about <30% of Americans have travelled internationally in the past year.
So I imagine this revocation of freedom doesn't affect everyone equally. Presumably things are still mostly fine for those folks or at least they wouldn't have experienced it.
So, you could conceivably be a citizen, but CBP/ICE think you might be here illegally, so they can stop you without a warrant. How are you going to prove you're a citizen? There is no national ID, passports aren't required nor are they held by the majority of citizens, and unless something has changed, green card holders / permanent residents aren't required to carry their papers.
I agree with your larger overall point, but this specific part isn't true.
Nothing has changed recently, but green card holders/permanents residents (over the age of 18) have been required to carry their green card with them since a long time ago (since the implementation of the Alien Registration Act of 1940, according to Google). I remember back when I got mine in 2012, it was a requirement as well (though, I will admit, it was not really enforced).
Here is the relevant quote from Section 264(e) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (I.N.A.)[0] addressing this:
> Every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him pursuant to subsection (d). Any alien who fails to comply with the provisions of this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall upon conviction for each offense be fined not to exceed $100 or be imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both.
And here[1] is an additional resource confirming this.
0. https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid%3AUSC-prel...
1. https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/do-i-really-need-car...
That's terrible advice, please stop giving terrible advice like that. ICE need to have probable cause (about you specifically, by name, not just your street or zipcode or "people of your ethnicity/appearance" or "people in that store/restaurant/parking lot"), beyond a verbal "uhh we think you're here illegally". You have the right to ask them why. And the 4th Amdt still exists, for all people, so no they can't stop you in your vehicle or inside your own house without probable cause and a [signed, valid] warrant [naming you specifically, and signed by a judge].
> How are you going to prove you're a citizen?
If you're a citizen, you can simply state to them you're a citizen (better when you're on bodycam; and repeat it (on bodycam) to any other ICE officials you interact with, and make mental note of their names or else descriptions so you can subsequently identify them). Pragmatically, you could also identify yourself as such to any bystanders or anyone videoing things.
"U.S. citizens do not have to carry proof of citizenship if they are in the U.S." [0] Read that again and again. Ok?
For sure ICE could knowingly violate a citizen's rights, detain them unlawfully (for hours or days), beat them up, send them to a detention center, even (in very rare cases) deport them. That becomes a political as much as legal matter. If you have constitutional/legal rights and due-process but refuse to stand up for them, do those rights functionally cease to exist? Do they magically get restored in 2029(/2033)? Time to stop being complacent.
(Obviously noncitizens do not have all the above protections, and need to be more careful.)
In the meantime, to inform yourself about your rights, and to get advice how to deal with ICE, both for citizens, GC holders, visa holders, visitors and undocumented people, see: https://www.aclu.org/ or other webinars. But, stop speculating or spreading misinformation. If you don't know, ask here.
[0]: https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/immigrants-rights
This is technically true but in practice (as we've seen multiple times recently), if ICE wants to stop you or interrogate you or even arrest you, they will do so without a warrant.
Sure, and most Americans have never had their speech censored by a government entity so getting rid of the first amendment would be fine for most people.
30% sounds insanely high. I suspect at least half of Americans haven't even taken a _vacation_ in the past year, let alone _travelled internationally_.
passport to resident ratio usa, 1989-2023:
https://claude.ai/public/artifacts/44102530-5b24-467a-8510-c...
> Approximately 40 million Americans travel abroad each year. This figure represents about 12% of the U.S. population. Travel data reveals that Americans commonly visit destinations in Europe, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.
Source: https://travelpander.com/how-many-americans-travel-abroad/
> In the past year, the poll of 2,000 U.S. travelers, conducted by Talker Research, found 94% have traveled domestically, and 28% have traveled internationally.
source: https://www.myjournalcourier.com/features/article/unpacking-...
Even if I happen not to hold any particularly radical political opinions, if political speech is censored, my rights of free expression are also decreased. I may not practice a minority religion, but if the state systemically attacks one religion, my freedom of religion is also attacked.
The same is no less true for the 4th amendment; I may not be a target of the police at the current moment, but if they have the ability to search and take stuff at will, I am still less free.
The ABF are empowered to search any electronic devices, copy and retain its contents.
You can refuse, after which they are empowered to jail you and seize your belongings.
Sorry but I'm not seeing the connection between searching belongings whilst crossing an international border to the mass genocide of 6M people.
Or you can vote with your feet and stop going there.
> Sorry but I'm not seeing the connection between searching belongings whilst crossing an international border to the mass genocide of 6M people.
Nazism did not start with genocide. It ended with genocide. If your position is that as long as we haven't seen the death of 6M people then sure, you're right this isn't Nazism. But if you see the endless propaganda, the creations of large 'outgroups' and the building of actual concentration camps as possibly leading in that direction then now would be a good time to do something about it. Otherwise you'll be in a long line of people saying 'wir haben es nicht gewusst' in a couple of years. But you did.
The most surprising thing to me is that people that are by most measures intelligent are falling for it hook, line, and sinker.