If you’re planning to visit one of the 11 most popular national parks in the U.S. — two of which are in California — staff might ask a question that could be disquieting: Are you a resident in the United States?
A spokesperson for the Department of the Interior said that the question is being posed only to confirm whether the visitor will have to pay a nonresident fee — which is hefty.
The update to visitor verification and fees was announced in November by the Trump administration, which said that beginning Jan. 1 it would implement “America-first” entry fee policies.
“U.S. residents will continue to enjoy affordable pricing, while nonresidents will pay a higher rate to help support the care and maintenance of America’s parks,” according to the announcement.
Park rangers and state fire officials hold a briefing in May 2024 at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks before a wellness check on the General Sherman tree.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
The move is the latest in a series of incendiary tactics the Trump administration has employed in its crackdown on immigrants and foreign travelers, which has included sweeps in cities including Los Angeles and Minneapolis and suspending visas from dozens of countries, including new suspensions announced on social media Wednesday.
National parks are increasingly a flash point in President Trump’s policies. Last year, the administration ordered parks to scrub any language he would deem negative, unpatriotic or smacking of “improper partisan ideology” from signs and presentations visitors encounter at national parks and historic sites. Officials were instead urged to promote the nation’s “extraordinary heritage, consistent progress toward becoming a more perfect Union, and unmatched record of advancing liberty, prosperity and human flourishing.”
But the residency question takes the parks in a different direction. It remains unclear how the rule will be enforced.
Officials have not said whether the check will lead to larger immigration enforcement efforts at the parks.
Another question is whether the rules will make some people less likely to want to visit.
“This is very clearly a sort of isolationist, exclusionary, xenophobic project that makes people feel like they should not be a part of public life and civic life unless they were born in the United States,” said Eva Bitran, director of immigrants’ rights at American Civil Liberties Union Southern California.
Talia Inlender, deputy director for the Center of Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA, said the pricing coupled with the additional identity verification is likely to deter immigrant communities from visiting national parks across the country for fear of being asked to “show their papers.”
“That is not only contrary to the welcoming spirit of the national parks, but risks further expanding immigration enforcement in ways that target noncitizens — including those lawfully here — by requiring status checks conducted by park rangers who are not trained in the intricacies of immigration law,” Inlender said.
There has been a push in recent decades in California to encourage more Latinos and other people of color to enjoy the parks, including new hiking and camping groups. Surveys have found visitors tend to be overwhelmingly white.
Now, when you present your pass, or if you purchase one at a park entrance, staff must ask for your identification and determine your status.
According to an internal National Park Service directive obtained by the Washington Post, staffers are instructed to ask visiting groups, “How many people visiting are not U.S. citizens or residents?” The document also stated that “the fee collector does not need to check the identification of every visitor.”
The Times reached out to staff at Yosemite and Sequoia & Kings Canyon national parks for comment; both parks referred questions to the National Park Service.
A group stops for lunch at the bottom of Lower Yosemite Falls in Yosemite National Park.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
When is Park Service staff checking a visitor’s citizenship status?
You will be asked your citizenship or residency status, by way of ID verification, only when buying or using an annual pass, officials say.
“National Park Service staff are not checking immigration status, citizenship, or residency beyond what is necessary to confirm eligibility for a specific entrance fee or pass,” said Elizabeth Peace, an Interior Department spokesperson.
Peace told The Times in an email that the park service had “long required staff to confirm that the name on the interagency pass or fee-based credential matches a valid photo ID.”
The agency’s updated policy is that all digital-pass holders must show a photo identification matching the name on the pass. Acceptable forms of ID include:
- U.S. passport.
- U.S. state- or territory-issued driver’s license.
- State ID.
- Permanent residency card.
You can use an acceptable form of ID along with documentation of a permanent disability to validate your identity for an Access Pass, which is for residents who have a permanent disability.
Visitors who do not have a U.S. government-issued ID will be asked to purchase a nonresident annual pass, Peace said. Those passes are much more costly.
This identification verification process could pose a risk to those with undocumented status, but that risk looms whether they’re in a national park or not as the Trump administration has ramped up immigration enforcement across the nation, said Julia Gelatt, associate director of U.S. immigration policy for the Migration Policy Institute.
There’s the possibility that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents could be present at a national park and question a visitor’s immigration status, “but I don’t know if that’s how ICE is going to choose to spend its resources,” she said.
Gelatt said she doesn’t believe National Park Service staffers will share a person’s resident or citizenship status with ICE.
“They’re simply asking people, ‘Are you a U.S. resident?’ and if somebody says ‘No,’ that doesn’t distinguish between whether they’re here legally on a student visa or a work visa or a tourist visa, or whether they’re here without any status,” she said.
“So that [staffer] wouldn’t really have the information to initiate some kind of immigration enforcement action.”
A shuttle transports visitors in Yosemite Valley in December.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
How much do the passes cost?
The cost of an annual pass, which covers entrance to thousands of recreation areas but not other amenities including camping and parking, is:
- $80 for U.S. residents.
- $250 for nonresidents.
If a non-U.S. resident is looking to purchase a day-of entrance pass, it will cost an additional $100 on top of the regular admittance fee, which is $20 to $35.
The National Parks Conservation Assn. said it backs efforts to increase funding that will support parks but doesn’t want fees to become a barrier “that keeps people from experiencing America’s most iconic places.”
“Charging international visitors more is not uncommon globally,” said Theresa Pierno, president of the association, in a letter to the Department of the Interior, “but any such policy must be designed thoughtfully to ensure it doesn’t cause barriers or even longer lines at entrances.”
The additional questioning could lead to longer lines, the Sierra Club pointed out.
“These new national park policies are nothing more than a political stunt intended to distract from the Trump administration ongoing efforts to hamstring public lands agencies via massive budget cuts and staff layoffs, in order to serve its ultimate goal of privatizing as much of our public lands as possible,” said Athan Manuel, director of the Sierra Club’s Lands Protection Program.
Another concern was how the verification process would affect an already understaffed workforce.
The National Park Service staff has been reduced by 24% since January of last year, which means fewer fee collectors and IT specialists who are needed as the new fees are implemented, Pierno said.
Which parks are affected?
The 11 parks that are subject to additional fees for non-U.S. residents:
- Acadia
- Bryce Canyon
- Everglades
- Glacier
- Grand Canyon
- Grand Teton
- Rocky Mountain
- Sequoia & Kings Canyon
- Yellowstone
- Yosemite
- Zion
