Simpson, Otter Applaud House Passage of Real ID ACT
Simpson, Otter Applaud House Passage of Real ID ACT
Washington, D.C. - By a vote of 261-161, the United States House of Representatives today approved H.R. 418, the Real ID Act, which takes significant steps to protect America from those who abuse our generosity and openness with extremism and violence. The bill will now be sent over to the Senate for consideration.
Simpson and Otter today voted in favor of the "Real ID Act" - a bill that closes the gaping holes in Homeland Security left open by the intelligence reform legislation that Congress passed in December 2004.
While carefully maintaining constitutional safeguards, the bill addresses four primary security concerns related to terrorists using America's lenient immigration laws against the citizens they are meant to protect: driver's licenses, asylum laws, a border fence in San Diego, and deportation.
"Strengthening our borders and curtailing illegal immigration should be our first order of business," Congressman Simpson said. "Our nation's open borders and lax immigration policies provide an inexcusable invitation to the world's terrorists to come here and ply their horrible trade. I am proud to support this legislation and am hopeful the Senate will pass it quickly as well."
"There is no more fundamental role of government than protecting its citizens. This bill recognizes the real threat posed by our porous borders from those who would seek to abuse our diversity and openness," Congressman Otter said. "Just as importantly, this legislation addresses shortcomings in our immigration laws without sacrificing the privacy of the American people. These are reasonable, common-sense measures to help keep us safe and free."
The "Real ID" bill would:
Ø Establish rigorous proof of identity and immigration status requirements for all applicants for driver's licenses and state-issued identity cards, as well as strong security requirements for all cards issued.
Ø Remove a requirement that regulations for driver's licenses and state-issued identity cards be set using a "negotiated rule making" procedure with "interested parties" at the table, presumably including advocates for illegal immigrants. The legislation specifically protects state authority to issue driver's licenses and determine what information must be contained on them, and how it may be used.
Ø Reform laws governing requests for asylum from foreign nationals. Among other things, it would overturn a bizarre doctrine under which the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has been granting asylum to applicants who argue that they face political persecution at home based on their own government's belief that they are terrorists.
Ø Waive all federal laws necessary to ensure timely completion of a 14-mile border fence between the United States and Mexico, inland from the Pacific Ocean in San Diego. Construction was ordered by Congress in 1996, but remains entangled in environmental lawsuits over protection of such species as the Coastal California Gnatcatcher.
Ø Make aliens deportable for terrorism-related offenses to the same extent that current law bars their admission to the United States. For instance, the bill provides that aliens tried and convicted of providing funds or other material support to terrorist organizations are barred from future admission to the country, and may be deported if they knew, or reasonably should have known, that they were contributing to a terrorist organization.
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/id02_simpson/RealID_Act.html