I don’t think just inking out Trump’s signature would fit:
“with intent to render such bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt unfit to be reissued.”
A bill would still be usable as currency with the name inked out. That’s gonna be my defense anyway. Also, “it was like that when I got it”
Short haired old white guy like me? Nope.
Middle-aged actual naturalized citizen of obviously non-white ethnicity? Big worry. Once “Show me your papers” produces no papers, off they go into the Gulag. If they did somehow have papers on them, those disappeared into the ICEhole’s pocket never again to see the light of day.
I and probably lots of folks here have received bills with obvious drawing or writing on them. Would a cashier even notice if I wrote “sucks” under his signature? 
Generally speaking, defacing currency isn’t illegal and doesn’t change the value of a defaced bill.
Defacing it with intent to alter the apparent value most certainly is illegal. So don’t do that.
You mean like altering Andrew Jackson’s face to make it look like Ben Franklin’s?
When I was a cashier in retail and at a casino, I saw plenty of bills with writing on them. Mostly, it was numbers, as when somebody was counting money, but I do remember one that had, “Jerry, this is for groceries” written on it.
No matter; it was still valid currency.
Damn. Somebody slept on the sofa that night.
Even the oh so Canadian Canadian five-dollar note → Spock five - Wikipedia.
Wiki used to have a much better article on this topic. With much better pix. Damn. Try these pix instead: Spock 5 - Google Image Search
Ha! I heard about “Spocked Fives,” but in all my experience as a cashier, I never saw one.
Not a bad Wiki item, though. Nice to hear that Terry Fox will be on the $5 bill. Not sure when, but if anybody deserves commemoration on Canadian currency, that guy does.
I stamp bills as a member of this site. The regulation defines ‘illegal’ defacement as defacement that renders bills unfit to be re-issued. When I stamp my bills I choose a blank spot that is not also where the watermark is. So far after 20+ years no treasury agents have come knocking. I have a Sharpie at the ready.
Perhaps this will happen. But in some precincts, an ICE presence could backfire. Reports of this could drive some anti-ICE-inclined folks to the polls (“no one’s gonna intimidate me”), and even remind a few folks waiting in line exactly why they now have some doubts about Trump and the GOP.
No cites, but I recall something similar might have been a factor when stricter voter ID laws were passed in certain states: it motivated community organizations (and state and local governments) to encourage folks to get their paperwork in order, including many new voters; and, a few folks voted in elections they might not have bothered, to show the world that such tactics weren’t going to stop them.
This.
“I get to carry a gun, cos-play an Army guy, and harass people? Sign me up!”
They are bullys through, and through.
Here is where we are now.
From Heather Cox Richardson’s Substack this morning:
In an interview with Reuters on Monday, Singapore’s minister for foreign affairs, Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, put in bald language the change in the world order instigated by President Donald J. Trump.
“For 80 years,” Balakrishnan explained, “the US was the underwriter for a system of globalisation based on UN Charter principles, multilateralism, territorial integrity, sovereign equality.” That system “heralded an unprecedented and unique period of global prosperity and peace. Of course there were exceptions. And of course, the Cold War was still in effect for at least half of the last 80 years. But generally, for those of us who were non-communists, who ran open economies, who provided first world infrastructure, together with a hardworking disciplined people, we had unprecedented opportunities.
“The story of Singapore, with a per capita GDP of 500 US dollars in 1965. Now, [it is] somewhere between 80,000 to 90,000 US dollars. It would not have happened if it had not been for this unprecedented period, basically Pax Americana and then turbocharged by the reform and opening of China for decades. It has been unprecedented. It has been great for many of us. In fact, I will say, for all of us, if you look back 80 years.
“But now, whether you like it or not, objectively, this period has ended…. Basically, the underwriter of this world order has now become a revisionist power, and some people would even say a disruptor. But the larger point is that the erosion of norms, processes, and institutions that underpinned a remarkable period of peace and prosperity; that foundation has gone.”
…
Pax Americana is dead. Killed in a little over a year by one madman and his enablers on the street, in Congress, on his staff, and on the Supreme Court.
And if you read that sentence out loud to him, he’d probably say, “A pox is a good thing to kill, you know, to get rid of. Although I’m suspicious of vaccines. They aren’t good for everyone. But we’ll have a great one in about two weeks. Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
The most infuriating thing is the sheer stupidity of it all, Eru Iluvatar knows the old order fell way short of perfection, but to have it replaced by pure chaos just because a bunch of idiots voted for their perfect representant…
Donald Trump had no personal or political reason to make an issue of your previous defacements.
Hypothesis: The administration gamed out what happens when Trump’s signature goes on currency much more carefully than they gamed out the Iran war. They realize that moral purity conservatives, who are sometimes politically reachable by Democrats because Trump is a disgusting rule-breaker, will react badly to the President’s signature beng defaced. Putting Trump’s signature on money was a politically brilliant move.
We’ll have to have a separate thread on currency defacement once it becomes a political issue, probably this summer.
- Defacing U.S. Currency
Under section 333 of the U.S. Criminal Code, “whoever mutilates, cuts, defaces, disfigures, or perforates, or unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association, or Federal Reserve bank, or the Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt unfit to be reissued, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.” 18 U.S.C. § 333.
I don’t think you’ve read the sentence very carefully. (Bolding mine)
Even with big brothers camera’s aid I believe in a year his name will missing on most with no offenders incarcerated ! Actually 50 years from now a mint uninked one will be hard to find!
So, how many T-men does he have, and how are they going to trace random “defaced” bills back to the one who defaced it? Is he going to station them at random retailers to arrest insta-felons on the spot? You’re experiencing fantasy FUD.
More likely what will happen is a MAGA-merchant will refuse to accept the bill in which case I will simply say, “Thank you for letting me know what you are,” and never go that store again.
It’s a misdemeanor. No grand jury indictment required. No right to a jury. But maybe they would overcharge and say that there was a conspiracy to commit the misdemeanor. That’s a felony.
Wouldn’t they argue that bills have to be removed from circulation due to the defacement, and find some precedent regarding that being illegal?
We aren’t yet at the point where the idea would be to throw bill defacers in the gulag. The point would be to harass critics and – more than that – bring down progressives to Trump’s level.
There is still no way to prove who defaced the bill. “It was like that when I got it” is a perfectly reasonable defense and no way to disprove. Attempts to trace back to the original Sharpie-wielder is a fool’s errand. I very much doubt anybody would be charged.