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Comment by largesse | Hacker News Reader

I wonder.. technically, not having a passport doesn't prevent you from leaving the country. You can get in a boat and take off. Leaving by plane is difficult, as well as legally entering another country.

Is it actually illegal to reenter the US as a citizen without a US passport? I would hope that as a US citizen you have a right to entry and visiting a US Consulate in another country would start the process regardless of whether you are a felon.

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  | Is it actually illegal to reenter the US as
  | a citizen without a US passport?

I've talked to the border patrol over the phone about this before (with relation to re-entering with an expired passport). As an American citizen, you can't be denied re-entry into the country. Without proper documentation, you might get tied up at the border while proving you are an American citizen (though I'm not sure what lengths they would go to to figure out if you really are a US citizen without even an expired passport though).

Exiting the US on foot at the Mexican border involves no check of any kind of documentation-- you just walk through a couple turnstiles, and a Mexican Marine may search your bag if you look suspicious.

That, of course, makes it easy to be in Tiajuana without a passport. From what I heard when I lived in San Diego, if you bring a US drivers' license, and especially if you also bring a US birth certificate, the border agents may chew you out, but they will let you into the US.

Given this, I wonder what the rationale is for denying felon's passports? I mean, if it doesn't prevent you from leaving the country or entering the country, both of which are violations of international law.

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