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Colombian college student who likes Theater District clubs might have to worry about a visit from Homeland Security
By adamg on Tue, 05/16/2017 - 11:40am
A routine hearing on underage foreign students with fake IDs trying to get into a Theater District club could turn into a Homeland Security investigation because one of them allegedly tried to get into another club the next week with a forged US passport.
At a Boston Licensing Board hearing this morning, Sgt. Det. Robert Mulvey said he and his partner found two underage students, one a 20-year-old Northeastern student from Venezuela with a fake Spanish ID, the other a 19-year-old Bentley student from Colombia with a forged Colombian ID, inside Cure Lounge, 246 Tremont St., at a "day party" around 4:50 p.m. on April 1.
Both students were summoned to court to face a charge of being a minor in possession of alcohol, which, if they have no other outstanding charges, would normally just be continued without a finding for several months and then dismissed if they stay out of trouble during that time.
Unfortunately for the Colombian, the company that provides security at Cure Lounge also performs that task at the nearby Icon - which has had its own problems with underage foreign students. The guy showed up at Icon with a new set of forged IDs, including a forged US passport, a manager at the company told the board.
Homeland Security tends to frown on passport forging and detectives said they would hand over the new information to the feds for a possible investigation.
The licensing board, in the meantime, decides Thursday what action, if any, to take about the incident.
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Comments
Falsely claiming US
Falsely claiming US citizenship is a big no no. He should be prepared to get deported at this point.
Oh my
Forged US passport. They went there.
Makes me wonder what else they were using it for, since they went to the trouble of getting one ... one would think that a fake driving license or liquor ID would be enough for clubbing purposes without the increased risk.
Or he might have figured that, unlike a drivers license
or liquor ID, people would be unlikely to question a passport.
That would be naive
My sons have US Passports, but they wouldn't use them as ID here because that would be weird and kind of suspicious even it it is legit - most people have ID or drivers licenses in the US.
The only time they have used them for drinking ID was in Canada.
Depends
I would use my passport as ID when I traveled out of state all the time when I was a little younger. A lot of places won't accept out of state IDs under a certain age (25 or 27 I think). I know locally that at least the TD Garden has this policy in place.
Passport for out-of-staters
Yes, MA businesses aren't protected if they accept any form of ID from out of state; only MA ids, U.S. Passport, or U.S. military ID. I would think most students wouldn't go to the trouble of getting an MA Liquor ID.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_laws_of_Massachusetts
Out of state ID refusal is pretty common in some places
A girl I dated when we were in our early-mid twenties was from Maryland but her family had a house on the Cape. She would routinely be refused entry to bars because she had an out of state ID and took to carrying her passport when we went out there to avoid the problems. The joke was that the canal was an international border.
Out of State Students
Lots of out of state students use their US Passport for ID in the clubs. The clubs usually accept those where they don't accept out of state ID's.
Prosecute
Screw deportation; he has committed a crime and should be prosecuted.
Yes!
Put college kids in jail for trying to drink alcohol!
Make America Dumb Again!
Hold ADULTS accountable for their actions
Now, extended jail sentences may be too severe. But this "continued without a finding" BS is equally idiotic
There are two things going on here
1. I fully agree that adults should be allowed to drink, and that the 21 drinking age causes more problems than it solves. So yes, hold adults accountable but treat them like adults and not children. You cannot have it both ways, no matter how much you hate young people.
Meanwhile, Canada and Australia have lower drinking ages, and car dependent cultures, and they have similar drinking and driving accident prevalence rates because rates for younger people aren't the ones fueling the stats - there has been an overall decline, and a much sharper decline in younger age brackets compared to the older age brackets.
2. There is a second crime here that you are ignoring, and it is way worse than just a fake ID. You don't fake a passport. If you want to stay in the US on a visa, you don't fake a US Passport. This is pretty serious - seriously stupid if the goal was to go to clubs, seriously felonious if the goal was to use it to get in and out of Canada or Mexico or to claim other benefits of citizenship.
fixed it for you
Can we please
raise the drinking age to 18? 21 is ridiculous.