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Plans for national identification card finalized
? Cards will closely resemble current IDs; states to choose options
By Sabrina Vera
The Department of Homeland Security will require all U.S. residents to purchase new forms of identification for the sake of national security.
The finalized provisions to an act passed in 2005 were announced Friday. The REAL ID Act is part of the Emergency Supplemental Appropriation for Defense, the Global War on Terror and Tsunami Relief and will enhance the integrity and reliability of driver's licenses and identification cards. The act was supposed to go into effect in 2007, but extensions have delayed the act's enforcement. States that have been granted an extension will be required to issue compliant licenses and identification cards no later than Jan. 1, 2010. All licenses and identification cards held by individuals from a state must be compliant by May 10, 2013, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Despite delay to implementation, Bobby Inman, a public affairs professor at UT, said he thinks the national ID is beneficial to all. "I realize it raises alarms about civil liberties, but the reality is we don't know who's here," he said. "We need a national ID card." Inman said the national ID card could ease logistical problems in such areas as voting and food stamps. The American Civil Liberties Union has led protests against the act, saying that a national ID card will not make the country safer. The union also fears the soon-to-be-implemented system poses threats to a right to privacy. "REAL ID needs to be repealed," the union said in a statement. "It is not only a threat to Americans' privacy, but it is utterly unworkable. After three and one-half years of efforts to implement this law, the tortured remains of the statute that appear to survive in these regulations stand as stark evidence of that fact." The new REAL IDs will resemble current state identification cards, with a few changes. "The physical changes vary," said Amy Kudwa, spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security. "We've created a menu for states with a number of different components to choose from; they can choose from holograms to microfilaments." The Texan strives to present all information fairly, accurately and completely.
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Frank Bowers
posted 1/16/08 @ 7:19 PM CST
I do not think an American's should have to purchase any thing to show his identy. If required the government should issue them atbirth and then when required after birth they shold have a means to issue them at the expense of the government. (Continued…)
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