Chad Groening
A grassroots activist organization is calling on American citizens to contact their members of Congress to try to repeal the "REAL ID Act," a piece of legislation the group says is nothing more than a federal takeover of state departments of motor vehicles. Opposition to the legislation is brewing in several states.
The REAL ID Act of 2005, intended as a measure to deter terrorism, was signed into law in May 2005; implementation and enforcement, however, have been delayed until December 2009. Tom DeWeese, president of the American Policy Center (APC), says the Act will essentially transform driver's licenses into a national identification card. But the cost to fully implement the Act's provisions, he claims, could be as high as $14.5 billion dollars, or almost $300 million per state.
DeWeese says the cost and red tape of the program is so enormous that a number of states are in revolt, primarily because they simply cannot afford to comply.
"There have been several [states] around the country that have now passed resolutions that say they are not going to do this," he explains. "Five states have said they cannot comply and are refusing to comply; 13 more states have passed legislation in at least one chamber, saying that they are not going to comply with this; and nine more states are at least looking at some sort of legislation. So [opposition is] beginning to grow across the country."
In addition, DeWeese asserts, the new system will do absolutely nothing to stop terrorists or illegal immigrants from acquiring driver's licenses, nor will it protect citizens from identity theft. "Most of the 9/11 terrorists, for example, had legitimate IDs," he notes. "It's very easy to get counterfeit ID, no matter what they do -- even retinal scans and other biometric measurements."
And the APC leader says it is ridiculous that while the Department of Homeland Security will require two verifiable IDs to obtain a driver's license, they are willing to accept "matricula consular" cards, a highly questionable form of identification available from the Mexican government. Those cards, states DeWeese, contain "absolutely no legitimate information," yet remain one of the documents that state departments of motor vehicles (DMVs) will accept as identification for obtaining a driver's license.
The REAL ID Act of 2005 would require tamper-proof security features on licenses issued only to individuals who can prove citizenship or legal status. Personal information on the licenses would reside in a database network accessible by DMVs nationwide. Individuals without the new license would not be permitted to enter federal buildings or board airplanes unless they could produce a passport or another form of photo ID approved by the federal government.
Original Source