Report - Guardian

The LSE Identity Project Report: June 2005 87Legitimate Flow of People and Goods” was signed in December 2001. The Action planincludes the development of common standards on biometric identifiers, an agreementto use interoperable technologies to read the biometrics, and an agreement to use cardsthat can store multiple biometrics. Given the date of this document, it is likely to havebeen the driving force behind the national ID initiative. The two countries continue towork on methods of sharing data, and standardising policies and technologies.United States and REAL-IDAmericans are generally opposed to ID cards and have rejected all prior proposals toimplement such a system, but in February 2005 the US House of Representativesapproved H.R. 418, the REAL ID Act. It became law in May 2005 following unanimousapproval in the Senate after it had been attached to a funding bill for the militaryoperations in Iraq, and Tsunami relief. Up until this point, the legislation hadencountered significant opposition from politicians and groups from across the politicalspectrum.A relevant aim of the law is to establish and rapidly implement regulations both forState drivers’ licenses and for identification document security standards. The lawrequires States to deny drivers’ licenses to undocumented immigrants: this requirementis seen as moving the license into the realm of a national ID card.The first step lays the foundations by requiring that federal agencies refuse any drivers’license that does not meet minimum document requirements and issuance standards,including verification of immigration status. As a result, temporary residents in the USwill only get a driver's license that is valid until their authorised period of stay expires.For all other non-citizens, licenses will be valid for only one year.According to the American Immigration Lawyers Association:“Preventing immigrants from obtaining driver's licenses underminesnational security by pushing people into the shadows and fueling theblack market for fraudulent identification documents. Moreover, itundermines the law enforcement utility of Department of MotorVehicle databases by limiting rather than expanding the data onindividuals residing in a particular state. Perhaps more to the point, itis clear from the 9/11 and Terrorist Travel staff report that theproposed restrictions would not have prevented a single hijacker fromobtaining a driver’s license or boarding a plane. (...) The terrorists didnot need US-issued driver's licenses to board the planes on September11; they had foreign passports that allowed them to board airplanes.Use of foreign passports to board airplanes would still be permittedunder this provision.” 224The Act also requires that States sign up to the interstate compact for sharing licensinginformation.224 American Immigration Lawyers Association, The REAL ID Act of 2005: Summary and Selected Analysis ofProvisions, January 27, 2005, http://www.aila.org/contentViewer.aspx?bc=10,911,5516,8191.