Notable Postions on Real ID
Here are just a few important noteworthy organized positions on Real ID.
The Real ID Act of 2005 would turn our state driver’s licenses into a genuine national identity card and impose numerous new burdens on taxpayers, citizens, immigrants, and state governments – while doing nothing to protect against terrorism. As a result, it is stirring intense opposition from many groups across the political spectrum. This Web site provides information about opposing Real ID.
"Backdoor negotiations and riding on the coattails of a military spending bill
allowed the Real ID Act to slip past Congress without careful scrutiny. The Act
imposes stringent and costly mandates on states to update drivers’ licenses,
which a majority of states had begun to do prior to the legislation.
Furthermore, the Act allows for additional federal interference in state and local governments’ matters. Perhaps the most egregious repercussion of the Real ID Act is that it is one step closer to a national ID card program.
Unfortunately, states and taxpayers are stuck with the burdensome bill. As DHS decides specificguidelines for states to implement the new federal standards, the department should consider the numerous drawbacks of choosing RFID-embedded licenses: high cost, technological difficulties, unprotected data, privacy concerns, and resistance from state DMVs. Instead, DHS should opt for 2-D barcode technology paired with a wide range of additional linked and layered security features.
Forty states already use this taxpayer-friendly method to verify, issue, and
protect drivers’ licenses."
"In May 2005 Congress passed the REAL ID Act as part of the War Supplemental
Appropriations Bill. Although intended to limit terrorists’ access to state issued
identification cards and driver’s licenses, REAL ID endangers thousands of
victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking.
The new driver’s license requirements passed in the REAL ID Act require all
applicants to use their principal residential address on their driver’s license or state identification card. This requirement forces victims to disclose their confidential addresses if they want to obtain federally acceptable forms of identification.
Without a federally valid driver’s license or identification card, victims could be denied access to boarding airplanes, trains, receiving benefits, opening banking and credit accounts and the use of postal boxes."
The South Texas organizations have joined a lawsuit that challenges the
constitutionality of section 102 of the Real ID Act, which gives Secretary Chertoff the power to waive any and all federal, state and local laws in order to facilitate construction of the border wall.
The suit claims that by placing the authority to unilaterally suspend all laws in the hands of a single Administration appointee, the Real ID Act violates the
Constitution’s separation of powers.
As organizations dedicated to the preservation of South Texas’ remaining wildlife habitat, these groups assert that if environmental laws are waived, years of effort to protect species and restore critical habitat will be lost.
In April DHS Secretary Chertoff announced that he was using his waiver power to ignore 36 federal laws, including the Endangered Species Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act, in order to speed up construction of over 300 miles of border wall."
"Unless it is stopped, the Real ID Act will be implemented by 2008. The ‘mark of the beast’ may not be enacted immediately, but whenever it does come into
force, it seems sure that the Real ID Act will be the mechanism used for its
enforcement—whether that time comes in 2009, 2010 or 2011. We must stop
the Real ID Act now before it becomes the mark of the beast! This is our last
chance to save America!"
"The Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) urged the repeal of key
sections of the REAL ID Act of 2005, in written testimony presented to the
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee last
week. According to a statement issued by the association's Global Executive
Director, Susan Gurley, ACTE then endorsed the proposed Identification
Security Enhancement Act (S. 717) as a "realistic and reasonable alternative" to REAL ID.
The primary objective of any government security or identity program that impacts travel is to safeguard the lives and the livelihoods of travellers - while fostering confidence in the transportation network and the people entrusted with its protection," said Gurley. "The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) REAL ID program falls short of these objectives."
ACTE's endorsed the Identification Security Enhancement Act by stating it offered tighter control over the drivers licensing process, without creating an additional federal identification document. According to Gurley, the proposed legislation adds enhanced security measures, including extended consideration for privacy laws enacted by the states, and provisions which prohibit the use of this enhanced identification by third parties. ACTE has been a longtime advocate of traveller redress and resolution in regard to data, and applauded the fact that the Identification Security Enhancement Act provides for due process. "
"The National Center for Transgender Equality and the Transgender Law Center also submitted written comments during the rulemaking.
Mara Keisling, NCTE’s director, said her organization worked with many opposition groups to raise their awareness of the law’s consequences for transgender people, and twice gave formal testimony that helped shape the regulations.
“We seem to have dodged some of the bullets,” said NCTE privacy and documentation program manager John Otto, “until DHS wants to go beyond
the two-dimensional bar code.”
“It’s a really bad, bad thing, and we want it repealed,” said Keisling of the law. “It’s not only bad for transgenders as it could have bad effects, but it also bad for what it does to all Americans and for what it means for us as Americans.”
“The law was based on lies and the false premise that people with fake drivers licenses caused 9-11,” Keisling said. “They tried to scare people and roll back civil rights.”
Another effect of the law, Keisling noted, is that states were reluctant to do anything to improve identification procedures for transgender people until they saw what Homeland Security would do.
She said the best document to be shown to get a new driver’s license is a U.S. passport, because the information there has already been verified by Homeland Security."
