REAL ID

amnesty, immigration, REAL ID

Immigration Amendments Undermine REAL ID and Workplace Enforcement

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Dr. James Jay Carafano, of the Heritage Foundation, writes:

Measures in the Senate’s immigration reform bill even acknowledge that the REAL ID requirements are vital to restoring the credibility of identity cards and the “breeder documents” (like birth certificates) that are used to obtain them.

Nonetheless, Senators Max Baucus (D-MT) and Jon Tester (D-MT) have proposed an amendment (No. 1236) that would: Remove REAL ID requirements from Title III, the workplace enforcement provisions of the Senate’s immigration bill; and [d]e-authorize a grant program created to help states become compliant with REAL ID.
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The draft Senate bill includes the intrusive, expensive, impractical, and unnecessary requirement that employers verify the eligibility status of every American worker with the federal government. The draft bill, however, also includes some commonsense enforcement measures, such as encouraging the Social Security Administration (SSA) to share Social Security no-match data with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS could use this information to identify employers who routinely and intentionally hire undocumented workers, an easy way of improving workplace enforcement.

Nonetheless, Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA), Max Baucus (D-MT), and Barack Obama (D-IL) have proposed an amendment (No. 1441) that would: Require a sunset on information sharing between DHS and SSA; and [e]liminate requirements for employers to direct employees to go to SSA when the employer receives a no-match letter.

amnesty, Political wind, REAL ID

Delay in ‘Real ID’ undermines immigration bill

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There is more proof of fraud within the proposed ‘Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007.’ Native born and naturalized employees will be required to show — as proof of legal status — their employers either a “United States passport or a driver’s license or identity card issued by a State, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or an outlying possession of the United States that satisfies the requirements of the ‘Real ID Act of 2005.'” (Click here and see Title III). Yet no state or territory requires a person to show proof of citizenship to obtain a driver’s license or identification card.

No problem, right? The ‘Real ID Act‘ requires states to verify a person’s legal status before issuing a driver’s license or identification card. Yet there are problems:

1) Mandatory compliance (*) with the ‘Real ID Act’ has been waived from May 11, 2008, to the end of 2009 by the Secretary of Transportation and the Act can be waived into infinity.

2) No state or territory is currently in full compliance with the Act.

3) Congress has provided less than half the funding needed to implement ‘Real ID’ and neither the states nor federal government will protect their own citizens; they simply refuse to pay the rest of the bill.

4) Many states accept Mexico’s matricula ID card as proof of legal status (to some degree) even though they are not tied to a central database, the breeder documents accepted when applying for one are highly suspect, and applicants are allowed to attest to information (such as date and place of birth) in lieu of documentation.

5) Four Senators have introduced legislation that would strip the legal status provisions of the ‘Real ID’ Act. Senator Akaka (D-HI), Leahy (D-VT), Sununu (R-NH), and Tester (D-MT) want to replace it with the ‘Identification Security Enhancement Act of 2007‘ (S. 717) that requires only: the person’s full legal name; the person’s date of birth; the person’s gender; the person’s driver’s license or personal identification card number; a photograph of the person; the person’s address of principal residence; and the person’s signature. States would be prohibited from requiring proof of legal status.

I read this morning where Senator Kennedy (D-MA) said, “The day it passes, we’re going to put in legislation to try to fix it.” Yet the “fix” is already in; it is in Title III of the ‘Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007.’ And if that provision gets amended, no problem, Senators Kennedy, Akaka, Leahy, Sununu, and Tester will just fix it some more.

Update, 8:39 PM EDT:

* If they ever impose an actual compliance date, states would either comply or clearly state on their driver’s license and identification cards, “may not be accepted by any Federal agency for federal identification or any other official purpose.”

Michelle Malkin posted about this post on her site today. Thanks, Michelle. Your new site is looking good. — Editor