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As of May 7, this Wednesday, if you want to board a plane, you'll have to show a picture ID that's compliant with the REAL ID Act. That is a federal law passed 20 years ago, and it means you'll have to show a federal ID, such as a passport or one of the REAL IDs issued by states. NPR's Martin Kaste has the story of why the law took so long to be enforced and how it'll affect citizens and noncitizens alike.
MARTIN KASTE, BYLINE: A lot of people assume that REAL ID was a product of 9/11, but the truth is, Congress' worries about unreliable state IDs date back even earlier than that to the fertilizer bomb used in Oklahoma City in 1995.
BRIAN ZIMMER: Because the Oklahoma City bombers bought their fertilizer using a counterfeit ID made by a wife of one of them on an ironing board.
KASTE: Brian Zimmer helped to draft the REAL ID Act as researcher for the House Judiciary Committee, though he says credit for the name goes to the committee chairman, former Republican Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner, who asked his staffers, fresh out of college, how young people talked about IDs.
ZIMMER: What do the kids call when they have to bring their actual state driver's license to a concert? Well, the cops are going to check. She said, well, you're told to bring your real ID.
KASTE: The law had two big goals - to make state IDs harder to counterfeit and to get states to be more thorough in verifying the information on those ID cards - easier said than done.
FAITH BRADLEY: It's probably more complicated than I ever thought it would be.
KASTE: Faith Bradley is a professor of information systems technology at George Washington University. She wrote her doctoral dissertation on the REAL ID Act back when the law was only 10 years old.
BRADLEY: When I wrote my dissertation, I was thinking, it's a just requirement. People fulfill the requirement and get their ID. But then it comes with ideology, view of the world, technology, your identity, how much information you share.
KASTE: She says about half the states resisted REAL ID at first, citing cost, privacy and the burden for some people in providing extra documentation. The feds kept delaying the deadline and negotiating with the states, and eventually we ended up with different kinds of REAL ID.
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KASTE: Washington State, for instance, offers enhanced driver's licenses, originally meant for border crossings but now accepted by the TSA. But those are for citizens only. Most people lined up at this licensing office near Seattle are still going for the plain licenses, even though those won't work soon in airports. Lucy Orozco (ph) just got hers.
LUCY OROZCO: (Non-English language spoken).
KASTE: "We don't travel much, so it won't be a problem because we just work here. And my kids are in school, and we're fine," Orozco says. In Washington state, noncitizens will have to use something like a foreign passport or green card to fly. Other states are offering REAL IDs to noncitizens if they have legal status. And then there's the question of people in the country illegally. Tanya Broder is senior counsel at the National Immigration Law Center.
TANYA BRODER: It will make it more difficult for people to come up with an acceptable ID, but before and after REAL ID implementation, there were always risks to traveling while undocumented.
KASTE: The REAL ID Act allows states to issue second-tier licenses if they want to, even to people without legal status. Nineteen states do so. Those licenses are valid on the roads, but they won't work in airports. That compromise was built into the law in 2005, but now it's under threat from the Trump administration. It signaled that it may punish states that issue licenses to people in the country illegally. Critics of illegal immigration welcome this move. Jessica Vaughan is with the Center for Immigration Studies.
JESSICA VAUGHAN: Driver's licenses unlock access to a lot of privileges and benefits that shouldn't be available to people here illegally, including employment and welfare benefits, so sending the signal that they can stay here easily and hide in plain sight.
KASTE: While the REAL ID deadline in airports is finally upon us, the nationwide system is still under review. Brian Zimmer did consulting work on ID laws after he left his job in Congress, and he says TSA is now auditing compliance. And it's starting with the states it thinks have done the best job, giving a little more time to those that may have yet to fully reach the federal standard. Martin Kaste, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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