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"Your papers, please" (or "Papers, please") is an expression or trope associated with police state functionaries, as popularized in Hollywood movies featuring Nazi Party officials demanding identification from citizens during random stops or at checkpoints. It is a cultural metaphor for life in a police state.
The phrase has been used disparagingly in the debate over Real ID and national ID cards in the United States.
It has also been used to refer to interactions with citizens during police stops and immigration enforcement. Arizona's controversial SB 1070 law requiring people to carry identification was dubbed the "Papers, Please" law. The phrase has also been used by the press in relation to a February 2017 incident in which Customs and Border Protection agents searching for a suspect demanded identification from passengers exiting a domestic flight.