Real ID Act blocks some Americans from driver's licenses

By Oren Dorell, USA TODAY
Strict federal rules aimed at keeping terrorists off planes are blocking some Americans from renewing their driver's licenses or getting other state-issued IDs.The consequences can be staggering. Without an ID, people cannot change jobs, drive legally, collect Social Security or Medicare, get through airport security or open a bank account. It's "a persistent problem across the country," says Chris Calabrese, legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union. The problems stem from the Real ID Act, passed by Congress in 2006 in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, when terrorists used easily obtained driver's licenses to carry out their plans. The law says that by 2013, only IDs from states that require applicants to present proof of citizenship or legal residency will be accepted to board an airplane or enter a federal building. In most states that have begun to comply, that proof means a birth certificate or immigration papers. The ACLU and others predicted that the law's documentation requirements would be a burden to many Americans, and the issue becomes more pressing as the deadline nears. Sometimes birth certificates are incomplete, inaccurate, missing or were never recorded. When corrections officer Charles Lust, 46, of West Palm Beach, Fla., tried to renew his driver's license in February 2010, he was shocked to discover his birth certificate said his name was Bell. A court, establishing paternity when he was 14, changed his name from Lust, his mother's name, to Bell, his father's name. After his driver's license expired, he couldn't open a bank account, cash a check or change jobs. He had to make special arrangements to pick up his kids from school because the school requires ID. "It kind of put my life on hold," Lust says. He finally got his license in September after the Florida governor's office granted an exception

Real ID Act blocks some Americans from driver's licenses By Oren Dorell, USA TODAY
this is just horriable they can have this much control over someone
home of the free and the brave yeah right
I pray come quickly jesus

reply to post by WeAreNothingWithoutGOD


Next, they'll tattoo some number on your arm. Then implant you with a chip. Retinal scan you and take you DNA so they can clone you and study your brain waves to predict your next move and the next time you go for a nice quite long drive and stop at the McD's drive thrue they'll drop some laxative in your food. Ok all kidding asside that's bovine fecal matter. For something that is supposed to make life easier it does the complete opposite.
I saw this documentary maybe a year ago about these guys who renounced their social security number, which apparently is totaly legal, and now they can drive with out a permit because the legal definition of driver or something like that. To drive a vehicule as a business or to any lucrative end?? Not sure exactly. They claim not to be drivers but travelers......It maybe legal but how much trouble would that get you into.

reply to post by WeAreNothingWithoutGOD


There will be no Real ID in Ohio, and I think Real ID is dead in the water....to many States have rejected it.

Administration Plans to Scale Back Real ID Law By Spencer S. Hsu, Washington Post

Yielding to a rebellion by states that refused to pay for it, the Obama administration is moving to scale back a federal law passed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that was designed to tighten security requirements for driver’s licenses, Homeland Security Department and congressional officials said. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano wants to repeal and replace the controversial, $4 billion domestic security initiative known as Real ID, which calls for placing more secure licenses in the hands of 245 million Americans by 2017.

The new proposal, called Pass ID, would be cheaper, less rigorous and partly funded by federal grants, according to draft legislation that Napolitano’s Senate allies plan to introduce as early as tomorrow.

The rebranding effort follows months of talks with the National Governors Association and poses political risk for Obama as well as Napolitano, a former NGA chairwoman who wants to soothe strained relations with the states without appearing to retreat on a recommendation by the 9/11 Commission.

Commissioners called for federal standards for driver’s licenses and birth certificates, noting, “For terrorists, travel documents are as important as weapons.” Eighteen of 19 terrorist hijackers obtained state IDs, some of them fraudulently, easing their movements inside the country. But the Bush administration struggled to implement the 2005 law, delaying the program repeatedly as states called it an unfunded mandate and privacy advocates warned it would create a de facto national ID. As governor of Arizona, Napolitano called Real ID “feel-good” legislation not worth the cost, and she signed a state law last year opting out of the plan. As secretary, she said a substitute would “accomplish some of the same goals.” Eleven states have refused to participate in Real ID despite a Dec. 31 federal deadline.

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