States Lead the Drive to Repeal REAL ID
Feature Story by Sarah Beckerman - 2/27/2007
Citing administrative burdens and civil rights and civil liberties concerns, several state legislatures openly oppose implementation of the REAL ID Act and either passed legislation to counter it or are considering such measures.
According to the ACLU, REAL ID was "rammed through Congress without proper hearings" in 2005, when it was attached to an emergency relief funds bill for Hurricane Katrina.
Civil rights groups say that it will effectively transform drivers' licenses into national identification cards, which will become the only acceptable form of identification for boarding airplanes, driving cars and entering federal buildings, among other activities. Documented immigrants and citizens will be eligible for REAL ID cards as well.
Once implemented, states will be charged with navigating the complexities of immigration law and determining who is legally entitled to a national identity card. In turn, citizens and immigrants eligible for REAL ID will be responsible for proving their eligibility with various documents, including documents like birth certificates and social security cards.
Maine was the first state to reject the law by passing a unanimous resolution on January 25. Other state legislatures in New Mexico, Utah, and Montana have followed suit by passing their own resolutions. Georgia, Hawai’i, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Vermont, Washington and Wyoming are also considering such legislation.
Maine State Senator Libby Mitchell argued in a Portland Press Herald article that the bill is an infringement on citizens' privacy, saying "the card that was once used to prove an individual was safe to drive will now be used as an 'internal passport,' which can be used to track an individual’s movement and activities."
State opponents of the REAL ID have their counterparts among federal representatives who are also voicing concern. Some have called for a delay in implementation of the law.
Rep. Tom Allen, D. Maine., introduced the Repeal Real ID and Identification Security Enhancement Act on February 20. Rep. Allen said REAL ID should be replaced "with legislation that does not infringe on the privacy rights of Americans [and that] does not put their personal information at risk to possible fraudulent use."
Sen. Susan Collins, R. Maine., said that the costs of implementation to the states are "enormous and overly burdensome." Homeland Security Chairman and Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, I. Conn., recently told The Washington Post that the law "may actually increase a terrorist’s ability to commit identity theft."
Civil rights groups have long opposed the bill, arguing for nearly two years that the law might be discriminatory.
Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, said that implementing the Act would "open the door to widespread discrimination, create bureaucratic nightmares, and undermine public safety by increasing the number of unlicensed drivers on our roads." The ACLU also argues that the law will lead to discrimination against citizens who look or sound "foreign."
In addition, the ACLU said that since many elderly and minority populations do not possess the necessary documents required to prove citizenship they "may be denied a license altogether or be told that [they are] eligible only for a second- (or third-) tier license."
REAL ID is scheduled to take effect in May 2008.
