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I just heard about this innovation from Homeland Security. A friend of mine who lives in Oregon wrote about his wife having to get a "Real ID" at a cost of $60. After reading his post on our personal website, I looked it up. Apparently, without a passport, you cannot fly domestically if you do not have a Real ID issued by Homeland Security or a specially marked driver's license. Does that do for you what it did for me? It reminds me of the movies in which Gestapo agents stop random people on the street and ask for their "papers".
I understand the reason for it, but it does smack me as a move towards a police state. One can only thank the jacka$$es who allowed millions of undocumented aliens to enter and remain in our country over the last four years. Fortunately, I have a valid passport, so applying for one of these instruments won't be necessary, but it isn't hard to see this as the beginning of a very different country than the one I grew up in. How do you feel about it?
Discussion (99)
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Hate the very idea of it. It’s complete malevolent duplicity and insulting about it. NH is a late but now conforming state and I’ll use my global entry card instead. Or passport, whichever expires later. I’ll also continue to drive instead of flying whenever possible - the rest of flying is awful and getting awful-er daily.
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Proving we are an unserious country, this was passed in 2005.
en.wikipedia.org
Open link
Oregon was the second to last state to implement it for their driver's licenses in 2020:
en.wikipedia.org
Open link
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As I recall, this whole "Real ID" thing came about as California began issuing driver licenses and ID's to anybody, without requiring any proof of anything. In other words, driver licenses, etc. became virtually worthless as useful ID's.
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My thinking is that these ideas came in a sequence after 9/11 along with the Patriotic Act and the breakup and reorganization of various law enforcement functions and the creation of Homeland Security.
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I do not have a problem with "Real ID." Without more, I do not see it as leading to ubiquitous "show your papers."
That is my recollection too. Some state IDs became worthless as true identification because the states issued them to anyone.
"Real ID" has been required for several years to conduct certain business on federal government premises (where ID is required to enter secured buildings).
For a long time at U.S. / Canada border crossing points in New York state a person did not need a passport, relying on driver's license alone. But after New York joined California in issuing driver's licenses without verification, the U.S. border patrol process could no longer rely on driver's license as presumptively indicating legal authorization to be in the United States.
When I got a new driver's license in 2018 (after an interstate move) the "Real ID" was the normal driver's license application process. It is not an extra process nor extra cost.
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