The Real ID Act

The “Real ID Act” passed congress this month. Provisions of this law include a sweeping new system that will nationalize standards for driver's licenses and state identification cards, requiring states to verify the authenticity of every document that people use to prove their identity and show their legal residency. By May 2008 every state will be required to contact the issuers of birth certificates, mortgage statements, utility bills, Social Security cards, and immigration papers before granting a driver's license. Touted as an antiterrorism measure, the Real ID Act would effectively erase laws in nine states that allow undocumented immigrants to obtain standard driver's licenses, which are widely accepted as official identification for boarding airplanes, opening bank accounts, and entering federal courthouses. Existing licenses would remain valid until they expire, and drivers who want to renew would then have to undergo the new identity verification process.

Each state will maintain its own database to respond to concerns about a shared, national database. Representative James Sensenbrenner, Republican of Wisconsin, the bill's primary author, said the interstate links would be used only to make sure an applicant does not have a license elsewhere. But Tim Sparapani of the ACLU said the language of the bill does not include restrictions on how the linked state databases can be used; and may be subject to abuse.

The Real ID Act also imposes several changes on the granting of asylum to people fleeing political, religious, or ethnic persecution. It would, for example, give immigration judges greater discretion to reject cases based on the refugee's demeanor. However, the act would also lift some caps on the number of asylum cases allowed each year. One proposal not adopted would have stopped appeals courts from staying a deportation order while they reviewed a rejected applicant's case.

- Adapted from “Congress set to impose ID card rules: States would need to verify papers” The Boston Globe, By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff, May 5, 2005.

05/2005