Section 264 of the Immigration and Nationality Act provides that, "Every alien in the United States … shall be issued a certificate of alien registration or an alien registration receipt card in such form and manner and at such time as shall be prescribed under regulations...." It also states, "Every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him.... Any alien who fails to comply with [these] provisions shall be guilty of a misdemeanor" and may be subject to fine and/or inprisonment upon each conviction. The specific requirements and procedures for applying to replace a permanent resident card are included in the Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] at 8 CFR § 264.5.

Please note: If you are a conditional resident and your status is expiring, these instructions do not pertain to you. You are to use BCIS Form I-751 (Petition to Remove the Conditions on Residence) to apply to remove the conditions on your permanent resident status.

Helping out illegal immigrants?  Want to know what the impact is for those who knowingly facilitate assisting those who are in the country illegally?  Check out this:

A person (including a group of persons, business, organization, or local government) commits a federal felony when she or he:

* assists an alien s/he should reasonably know is illegally in the U.S. or who lacks employment authorization, by transporting, sheltering, or assisting him or her to obtain employment, or

* encourages that alien to remain in the U.S. by referring him or her to an employer or by acting as employer or agent for an employer in any way, or

* knowingly assists illegal aliens due to personal convictions.

link:  http://www.americanpatrol.com/REFERENCE/AidAbetUnlawfulSec8USC1324.html

Federal–Local Cooperative Agreements — Section 133 of IIRAIRA

In 1996, Congress made several express grants of immigration law enforcement authority to state and local governments. The most important of the legislative actions was contained in IIRIRA §133, which authorized the U.S. Attorney General to enter into written cooperative agreements with state and local governments to accept the services of state officers or employees in enforcing the INA. Under a ‘Section 133’ agreement, state and local governments may designate officers or employees (“local officers”) who will be authorized to “perform a function of [a federal] immigration officer in relation to the investigation, apprehension, or detention of aliens in the United States.”

Read more on this VERY important issue at http://fairus.org/.  Do a search on the phrase, "Section 133".  You will find adequate information that makes it obvious that local enforcement agencies can -and should- be utilizing their enforcement capabilities to enforce our immigration laws.