Thread: Fight brews over federal Real ID Act

Fight brews over federal Real ID Act
Published: February 20, 2007

By DAVID BATES
Of the News-Register


Oregon lawmakers will consider a bill Thursday to facilitate implementation of the federal Real ID Act.

Congress enacted the measure in 2005 with overwhelming bipartisan support. The House passed it 368-58 and the Senate by unanimous vote.

Part of an $82 billion supplemental military spending bill, the provision is aimed at preventing illegal immigrants from getting driver's licenses. States have until May 2008 to bring their licensing laws into compliance.

Now, a bipartisan effort is being mounted, from coast to coast, to derail the act - or, at the very least, warn citizens about what some see as the advent of an national ID card raising uncomfortable police state overtones.

What it amounts to for citizens is a lot more paperwork the next time they renew their license. Applicants will have to provide several documents, including a Social Security card, to verify they are in the U.S. legally.

Many state legislatures around the country have expressed misgivings, ranging from hesitations and reservations to outright opposition. On Monday, the Senate in Arizona, a frontline state in the fight against illegal immigration, joined the fray by unanimously approving a statement of opposition.

One of the motivating concerns for state officials is cost.

In September, a report issued by the National Governors Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, said it will cost more than $11 billion to implement the technology required by the Real ID Act.

Re-enrolling motorists alone will cost about $8.5 billion, the report said.

In Oregon, two bills have been put forward, and they have energized groups embroiled in the debate over illegal immigration.

One emerged from the office of Gov. Ted Kulongoski. However, it is the other, Senate Bill 424, sponsored by Mount Hood Democrat Rick Metsger, that's up for consideration this week.

The bill is scheduled for hearing at 1 p.m. Thursday in Hearing Room B at the Capitol in Salem.

Oregonians for Immigration Reform, headed by Jim Ludwick of McMinnville, supports both bills. It is calling on its supporters to submit testimony in favor, either orally or in writing.

Immigrant rights' groups and civil libertarians are rallying their troops for a push in the opposite direction.

PCUN, the Woodburn-based farmworkers' union, issued statement opposing the creation of a national ID card system.

"Instead we should join the growing momentum around the country calling for real solutions and protection of our civil rights and liberties," the union said.

http://www.newsregister.com/news/story. ... _no=218674

i must be missing something. why would legal Americans oppose real id? i thought in 2008 to get a drivers licence you have to bring documentation you are a citizen, what's the big deal? it couldn't be the cost, illegals are costing us millions already.

Originally Posted by Lone_Patriot

i must be missing something. why would legal Americans oppose real id? i thought in 2008 to get a drivers licence you have to bring documentation you are a citizen, what's the big deal? it couldn't be the cost, illegals are costing us millions already.

For starters, many of us understand that the SSN is an entrapment scheme that the Supreme Court SPECIFICALLY said must be VOLUNTARY to meet constitutional muster. What these dirtbags are doing is trying to make an end run around the voluntary nature of the damned thing by tying everything else to it, just as John told us they would do in his Revelation.

Furthermore, the author is right about concerns that this reeks of a police state. It's not too extreme of an analogy to point out that most Germans saw no danger in the concentration of power in the hands of the Nazis until they started knocking on doors in the middle of the night. That's the thing about tyranny - the rabble rarely see it coming until it's in their living room with jack boots and submachine guns. It's also the reason that the Founders of this nation sought a constitutional republic of strictly limited government whose powers were limited by enumeration rather than a democracy in which the majority of idiots could vote away the rights of the minority of people who are smart enough to know that government is at best a caged beast waiting for a careless keeper to leave the gate unlatched.

Originally Posted by Lone_Patriot

i must be missing something. why would legal Americans oppose real id? i thought in 2008 to get a drivers licence you have to bring documentation you are a citizen, what's the big deal? it couldn't be the cost, illegals are costing us millions already.

Let them put their TECHNOLOGY to use TRACKING ILLEGALS ..........NOT Americans.

Hopefully, folks will see the hypocrisy in this massive delusional scheme.

cg & 2nd
thanks for helping me see the real issue. so i have to ask, we can't be giving driver lic. to every illegal that wants one, is this even in the real id? is real id more concerned about cattle micro chipping us or making sure it you pull out a driver lic it is for real? i know this sounds real stupid but everything i've seen on "main stream media" is it's securing one form of id.

Originally Posted by Lone_Patriot

cg & 2nd
thanks for helping me see the real issue. so i have to ask, we can't be giving driver lic. to every illegal that wants one, is this even in the real id? is real id more concerned about cattle micro chipping us or making sure it you pull out a driver lic it is for real? i know this sounds real stupid but everything i've seen on "main stream media" is it's securing one form of id.

None of these features stop people from driving without licenses or obtaining fake IDs as they need them to engage in crime. It's like gun laws in places like Washington D.C.: the honest citizens are defenseless while the criminals commit record numbers of gun-related crimes. The black maket gets more sophisticated and makes more money and the average citizen loses more freedom.

Let me ask you this: If the police already refuse to arrest illegals for driving without DL or insurance (which is in fact the case), what good does it do to make the DLs more secure? All that means is that law-abiding citizens, who are NOT the problem, will have more trouble keeping up their ID, while the criminals and illegal aliens will continue to skate along exactly as they do today.

cg, thanks for the clarification. you are right here in illinois if you are stopped without a dl they just let you go.
i live in a town that is a go between 3 bigger towns and a local cop (friend) told me 7 of 10 stops are illegals.... you know the rest they won't do anything (claiming they can't... so weak)

I believe there are currently eight states issuing driver's licenses to criminal aliens. The federal Real ID Act would stop this practice. IMHO, drastic times call for drastic measures. The states yelling the loudest are probably the same states that are issuing the licenses to illegals.

One thing I always notices on initiatives, and Bills that have anything to do with illegals is, the second half is written to sound like it contradicts the first half.

CrocketsGhost Wrote:

what good does it do to make the DLs more secure

It`s just something more they can spend money on, and then bleed us for it.

Originally Posted by Lone_Patriot

cg & 2nd
thanks for helping me see the real issue. so i have to ask, we can't be giving driver lic. to every illegal that wants one, is this even in the real id? is real id more concerned about cattle micro chipping us or making sure it you pull out a driver lic it is for real? i know this sounds real stupid but everything i've seen on "main stream media" is it's securing one form of id.

No question is 'stupid' LONE.