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Reject Real ID Act Date: : 03/25/2005
OCA is a member of the
National Immigration Forum and has already signed on to letters
of support in rejecting the REAL ID Act. Please take a moment to
read about the REAL ID Act and call your legislator as soon as
you can.
[Thanks to NAKASEC for and the National Immigration Forum for
providing this background!]
Congress is threatening to take away drivers licenses and other
important rights from immigrants. This past February 10, the
REAL ID Act (H.R. 418) passed in the House by a 261-161 vote.
The REAL ID Act does nothing to strengthen national security or
address the problems with the broken immigration system. America
urgently needs legislation supporting comprehensive immigration
reform and not another measure to drive immigrants deeper into
the shadows of society. Broadly, the REAL ID Act puts greater
restrictions on immigrant access to drivers' licenses, making it
more difficult for those fleeing persecution to attain asylum,
and waives potential environmental concerns in constructing a
fence to close a 3-mile gap along the US-Mexico border. The bill
also severely curtails the rights of immigrants to have a fair
trial and expands the definition of "terrorism" to include
actions normally protected by the first amendment.Of particular
concern to the Asian Pacific American community, the Real ID Act
drivers' license provisions would create the following 3-tiered
system for drivers' licenses:
- States will be prohibited from issuing drivers' licenses
to undocumented immigrants. Undocumented immigrants will be
forced to drive to work and school without licenses, and
therefore auto insurance, making the roads unsafe for
everyone. Most of these undocumented immigrants, numbering one
million Asian Pacific Americans, are long-term residents and
integral part of our communities, our economy and our nation.
They live, work and study in America and should not be
deprived of the basic right to drive, work and contribute to
society.
- All drivers' license applicants will undergo unnecessarily
burdensome proof of identity standards. Even citizens will be
impacted by this provision. There will be long delays as the
Department of Homeland Security will have to verify the
citizenship of each license applicant. Moreover, naturalized
citizens who do not have U.S. passports or access to their
naturalization certificates may have difficulties getting
their licenses because they cannot prove that they are U.S.
citizens.
- Temporary licenses, expiring according to the validity
period of one's visa, will be issued to certain legal
non-immigrants. Legal non-immigrants who are in the U.S. to
work or study will be forced to carry drivers' licenses or IDs
that single them out from the general population. Furthermore,
they will likely have tremendous difficulties getting or
renewing their licenses or IDs, as many employees of state
Departments of Motor Vehicles will not understand the
complexities of immigration law. Communities are also
concerned that these provisions are likely to lead to
discrimination or racial profiling of those who may look
"foreign.
The REAL ID Act has moved to the Senate. We need to continue
reaching out to senators to ask that they oppose the REAL ID
Act. A coordinated national day of action is in the works for
the Week of April 11. We’ll send out details later, when we
have them. Stay tuned!
IN THE MEANTIME, WHAT CAN WE DO?
Call or visit your senators while they are in their district
office. Your senators will be home through April 1st. In
addition to arguing against the REAL ID Act on the merits,
please ask them to take this additional step:
- If they are Republican: They should tell their
leadership—Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Bill Frist (R-TN)—that
they oppose REAL ID, don’t want to see it as part of
appropriations legislation, and that attaching it may bog
down the appropriations bill in extended debate. Cochran is
Chair of the Appropriations Committee and Frist is the
Senate Majority Leader.
- If they are Democrat: They should tell their
leadership—Robert Byrd (D-WV) and Harry Reid (D-NV)—that
they oppose REAL ID, don't want to see it as part of
appropriations legislation, and that attaching it may bog
down the appropriations bill in extended debate. Byrd is the
senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee Reid is the
Senate Minority Leader.
This step is important, because REAL ID must be kept off the
Senate version of the spending bill. The appropriators (that
is, Cochran and Byrd) may be convinced to keep it off the
spending bill because they generally do not like controversial
policy proposals attached to their spending bills.
For suggested talking points, please visit http://www.immigrationforum.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=654
Write a Sample Letter If you prefer to send a letter by fax to
your senators’ offices, you can use the sample letter on the
National Immigration Forum's website, and personalize it.
BACKGROUND
REAL ID Goes to the Senate
The House passed a bill that will provide additional money for
the war in Iraq, for military operations in Afghanistan, and
for tsunami relief (among other things). As expected, James
Sensenbrenner’s REAL ID Act has been attached to that
appropriation bill. The bill passed the House 388 to 43.
As you will recall from previous e-mails, the REAL ID Act, if
enacted, will make it practically impossible for someone to
win asylum in the U.S., requiring asylum seekers to meet a
credibility standard that no member of Congress (for example)
could meet. It would also induce states to deny drivers’
licenses to undocumented immigrants; further restrict the due
process rights of immigrants; give bail bondsmen unprecedented
powers to decide whether an immigrant is a flight risk and to
go after him or her; and give the Secretary of Homeland
Security the power to waive all laws that he feels might
interfere with building border barriers. For a more detailed
review of REAL ID provisions, and for materials related to the
bill, go to our Web site:
http://www.immigrationforum.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=701
Ultimately, a supplemental appropriations bill will pass
overwhelmingly in the Senate. The question now is, “Will it
have REAL ID attached to it?”
THE SENATE’S OPTIONS
The Senate can take up the House appropriations bill (with
REAL ID attached), or senators can consider their own
appropriations bill. In the latter case, that bill may face
amendments as it goes through Senate passage (including
something like REAL ID, if someone were to offer it). In any
case, the Senate will have to deal with REAL ID, either in the
chamber or during a conference committee with the House. One
way it may do so is to insist that REAL ID be dropped from any
House/Senate compromise package. On the other hand, some
senators may feel that if the House wants to attach an
extraneous immigration matter to a military operations
supplemental spending bill, the door is open for other
immigration provisions that are priorities for senators.
The Senate will consider the supplemental spending bill after
they return from recess April 5th.
Please contact your legislator today!
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