A mistaken ID bill

CONGRESS IS in danger of passing legislation that could damage immigration policy under the false pretense of enhancing national security. The Senate should block this ill-conceived proposal and take a more measured look at immigration reform.

ADVERTISEMENT

House Republican James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin says his bill, the Real ID Act, will keep terrorists from crossing US borders. In a January column he writes: ''The goal of the Real ID Act is straightforward: it seeks to prevent another 9/11-type attack by disrupting terrorist travel."

But the rhetoric promises more protection than the bill delivers.

A key feature of the bill is the denial of driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. But most of the illegal immigrants who get licenses in the nine states that grant them are trying to earn a living, not commit terrorist acts. The real challenge is figuring out how to manage undocumented drivers. Mass deportation is unlikely because many of these drivers are essential to America's economy. They are vital in various industries, including the business of getting food into grocery stores.

Sensenbrenner's bill would compel states to add security features to all driver's licenses and create a license database that other states could access. This would essentially create a national ID card, an idea that should be thoroughly debated on its own, not slipped through a back door.

If it passes, the Real ID Act could cause delays in motor vehicle registry offices as states scramble to meet the new requirements. Residents of states that fail to comply could find that their licenses are useless as IDs at airports, grounding people unless they have passports to use as identification.

The Real ID Act would also demand more proof from asylum seekers. Government officials could ask for ''corroborating evidence." This is overkill. Many victims of torture and abuse are unlikely to be able to provide such evidence, especially if they come from countries where law enforcement officials are blind to, or complicit in, abuses.

Sensenbrenner calls for more barriers and surveillance technology along the southern US border. Illegal immigration should be discouraged. But this bill ignores the real need for laws that let immigrant workers travel safely and legally between the United States and Mexico.

Sensenbrenner introduced the Real ID Act in January. Last month the House attached the act to an emergency spending bill for Iraq and other needs, forcing the Senate to consider it.

House and Senate conferees are meeting now to reconcile their versions of the spending bill. They should leave the Real ID Act on the cutting room floor. It offers false security instead of intelligent reform.