May 09, 2005
Article: REAL ID a reality
As expected, the House of Representatives last week approved the anti-immigrant provisions known as the "REAL ID Act", which Republicans had nefariously attached to an emergency appropriations bill.
The bill passed by a 368-58 vote. The Senate is expected to approve the final version of the appropriations bill when it resumes sessions this week.
REAL ID Act Approved
The final bill requires applicants for state driver's licenses to show proof of citizenship or legal residency, document a home address and provide a photo ID. State motor vehicle department would have to verify the documents using federal databases. States would have three years to comply with these requirements. If a state didn't comply, its licenses couldn't be used for federal identification purposes, such as boarding planes or entering federal buildings.
Some of the bill's controversial asylum provisions were modified in the final version. As passed, the Real ID Act will require applicants for asylum to prove that their race, religion, national origin, political opinion or membership in a particular social group constituted "at least one central reason" for their persecution. Current law requires applicants show that their persecution was based "at least in part" on one of these factors; the original version of REAL ID would have required applicants to prove that one of these factors was "a central reason" for their persecution.
Taken out of the final version of the bill were provisions eliminating stays of removal (which would have allowed asylum seekers to be deported while their cases are on appeal to federal court), giving bail bondspeople unprecedented power to detain immigrants in removal proceedings, and restricting judicial review of credibility determinations by immigration authorities. In a positive development, the Real ID Act removes the annual cap--presently 10,000--on the number of asylees who can adjust their status to permanent residency.
REAL ID gives the Secretary of Homeland Security the authority to waive any legal regulation that would impede the construction of border barriers, fences, or roads. It also limits legal challenges to such projects to those brought on constitutional grounds. The original version of REAL ID would have required the Secretary of Homeland Security to waive all laws that would impede barrier construction, and would have barred all court challenges.
Read more from the Immigrant Solidarity Network
Posted by elcanche at May 9, 2005 04:26 PM
I had to turn off the radio (NPR) and put on music today...can't take the depression first thing in the morning after hearing the news.
Last week, our family had a Guatemalan friend staying at our house in rural Virginia. I became keenly aware out in the country how completely dependent he was on us for transportation. In our area, many people from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, etc. come to live and pick the food that we buy in our groceries stores. Without a driver's license, how will they shop, wash their clothes, get to the doctor, go to their childrens' school, drive to a phone to phone home, and all of the things that we so easily accomplish with our personal vehicles. There is no bus that runs in Albemarle County, or any rural place like this.
