In this video, we'll talk about whether undocumented immigrants can travel, fly, or drive inside
the US freely. Watch this video and I'll tell you more. Hi, everybody. My name is Jacob
Sapochnick and I am an immigration attorney based in San Diego, California. If you're
here for the first time, make sure to subscribe to our channel, click that bell to be notified.
And also follow us on Instagram and TikTok where we do other kinds of videos for your
information. In this video, we'll talk about a very, very common question that I get. And
this is, can undocumented immigrants, so people that came here illegally or people that are,
now, here in the US and have no valid paperwork in terms of immigration status, can they travel
free in the US, fly or drive? So, let's talk about flying. So currently, before October
1, 2020, when the REAL Federal ID, REAL ID is going to be introduced as the only form
of ID where people can fly, until that date. Anybody with a valid ID, which is a driver’s
license or a passport from a foreign country, as long as it's valid, you can actually fly
anywhere in the US in all 50 states. So, there are quite a few undocumented immigrants who
came here from many countries, even if they entered illegally to the United States, they
have some sort of form of an ID that they were able to get from their local embassies
or consulates in the US. So for example, I had a client who came here illegally from
Korea. Eventually, that client was able to get a passport from his Korean embassy in
the US just to be able to live his life over here. And using that passport, even though
there's no visa in the passport, that person can travel legally in the US. Or we have another
example of a person who came here illegally many years ago and was able to obtain a state
driver's license because the state didn't really check his legal status. As long as
you have a driver's license that is valid. You don't have to be legal to be able to travel,
meaning fly by plane. Now, that all will change after October 1, 2020. When the REAL ID is
going to be introduced, and we'll do a whole different video about that when the law becomes
current. But as of now, you can travel freely in the United States as long as you have a
valid ID. If you drive between states, you have to be mindful of checkpoints. There are
many checkpoints that are spread across the US, there are websites who will tell you where
the checkpoints are, and some of them that are not available to know in advance. But
if you drive between, let's say, California and Arizona, or Arizona and Texas, these are
the common states that really have a lot of checkpoints. And even within California, like
I'm based in San Diego, just going from San Diego to Los Angeles, there's quite a few
checkpoints. So, if you're traveling by car, be mindful of those checkpoints because if
you get apprehended at a checkpoint, and you don't have legal status, you may be detained
by the Border Patrol. But as far as flying, we have questions that people ask, can you
fly to Hawaii? Can you fly to Puerto Rico? Those are United States territories. So, even
if you're undocumented, as long as you have a valid ID, you're able to board a plane and
even travel to Hawaii or Puerto Rico. So, hopefully, this answers the question. We have
a lot of people that are actually asking me if being undocumented or a family member that
is undocumented, can they travel in the US? The answer is yes, as of now, but things will
change as of October 2020, when the REAL ID law will become effective. It's a federal
law. And at that point, there'll be a different story for people that have no legal status
in the US. So, thank you for watching. Make sure you subscribe to our channel if you’re
here for the first time and we'll see you in our next video.