Proposed Bill Would Allow Director of Homeland Security to Suspend All Laws

It looks as though Rep. Sensenbrenner has proposed a bill which would allow the director of Homeland Security to suspend any and all laws he/she deems fit, without the court's approval.

http://dailykos.com/story/2005/2/5/15448/41910

 

You know what? Mexico is lookin' pretty nice right about now.

 

you could become famous then.

First american to run to mexico who isnt a criminal.

 

That article is kind of vague, and it leaves out a lot of very important information regarding the National ID, which is the crux of this bill.

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=\Culture\archive\200502\CUL20050209b.html

Bill Prompts New National ID Card Fears
By Jeff Johnson
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
February 09, 2005

(CNSNews.com) - Congress is considering legislation that conservatives and libertarians warn will create a national ID card system, calling it a backdoor attempt to remove privacy protections gained in a law passed only last year.

The Real ID Act of 2005 (H.R. 418), introduced Jan. 26 by House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), would eliminate existing privacy protections and give the secretary of Homeland Security expanded powers to control states' driver's licenses and ID cards, and the data collected while issuing them.

The proposal would replace a more restrictive 2004 law and give the federal government additional control over the design and content of driver's licenses and ID cards, limit to whom and under what circumstances states are allowed to issue them and mandate participation in a network of identification databases open to some foreign officials.

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) wrote a "Dear Colleague" letter to House members Wednesday entitled "What will you tell your constituents?" Paul shared his belief that the Real ID Act could "make terrorism and illegal immigration more likely."

"What is to stop a corrupt foreign official from selling or giving the most sensitive information about your constituents - their name, address, date of birth, Social Security number, and other identifying characteristics - to Mexican drug lords, to terrorist cells that most experts believe are operating in Mexico and possibly Canada, to terrorist organizations overseas, to human traffickers who will use their identities to create even more convincing fraudulent documents?" Paul asked (emphasis in original). "Nothing will stop them."

Paul detailed the current controversy over the widely forged Mexican Matricula Consular identification cards and some Mexican authorities' active promotion of illegal emigration to the United States.

"What will your constituents think when they find out you voted to give their personal information to corrupt Mexican government officials?" Paul asked.

That possibility, among others, also concerned Gun Owners of America (GOA), which sent out an email alert to its members and supporters Wednesday morning.

"Realizing government's tendency towards mission creep, no one should be surprised if this database grows to contain far more information than that which is relevant to driving," the GOA alert warned.

"H.R. 418 requires that the database shall contain 'at a minimum,' all information contained on the driver's license as well as driving history," the email continued. "There is no limit to what other information may eventually be contained in the database; something which should definitely concern gun owners."

The legislation would withhold related funding unless states allow federal officials and law enforcement authorities at the state and local levels to access information contained in their driver's license and ID card databases and to share that information with the Mexican and Canadian governments.

Rolling back privacy protections?

Privacy advocates and civil libertarians opposed similar provisions regulating state driver's licenses and identification cards in last year's Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (S. 2845), believing that they were an attempt to create a national ID card. The legislation passed only after protections for states' autonomy and individuals' privacy were added.

The 2004 law forbids the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to "require a single design to which driver's licenses or personal identification cards issued by all states must conform."

It also mandates "procedures and requirements to protect the privacy rights of individuals who apply for and hold driver's licenses and personal identification cards." Finally, the law prohibits the federal government from infringing "on a state's power to set criteria concerning what categories of individuals are eligible to obtain" a state driver's license or ID card.

Sensenbrenner believes greater federal authority is necessary to prevent terrorists who enter the country on short-term temporary visas from getting long-term identity documents that would help them "blend in and not raise suspicion or concern.

"[9/11 hijacker] Mohammed Atta received a 6-month visa to stay in the U.S. yet received a Florida driver's license good for 6 years," Sensenbrenner exclaimed.

"The Real ID Act will end this by establishing a uniform rule for all states that temporary driver's licenses for foreign visitors expire when their visa terms expire, and establishing tough rules for confirming identity before temporary driver's licenses are issued," he added.

Groups supporting liberal immigration laws have already spoken out against the restrictions on driver's licenses for immigrants.

An analysis of the bill by the American Immigration Lawyers Association said the section "usurps the states' authority to set eligibility requirements and imposes a long list of 'minimum' federal standards, including restrictions on immigrants' access to driver's licenses.

"Preventing immigrants from obtaining driver's licenses undermines national security by pushing people into the shadows and fueling the black market for fraudulent identification documents," the AILA argued.

"Moreover, it undermines the law enforcement utility of Department of Motor Vehicle databases by limiting rather than expanding the data on individuals residing in a particular state," the AILA added.

The making of a national ID card

Opponents believe the requirements of the Real ID Act prove that it is an attempt to create a national ID card.

The legislation would require each state to:

Employ technology to capture digital images of identity source documents so that the images can be retained in electronic storage in a transferable format;

Subject each person applying for a driver's license or identification card to mandatory facial image capture; and

Limit the period of validity of all driver's licenses and identification cards that are not temporary to a period that does not exceed 8 years."

The proposal also requires that any state not meeting the requirements mark its driver's licenses and ID cards with the words "may not be accepted by any Federal agency for any official purpose." It also requires special colors or markings, as mandated by DHS, to distinguish the documents as federally unacceptable.

Another area of concern for privacy advocates in the REAL ID Act is called "Additional Powers of Secretary" and states that "The Secretary [of Homeland Security], in the Secretary's discretion, may, in addition to the requirements [described above] prescribe one or more design formats for driver's licenses and identification cards ... to protect the national security interests of the United States."

Writing in his "Texas Straight Talk" constituent newsletter, Paul described his concerns about the federal government having that type of power.

"A national identification card, in whatever form it may take, will allow the federal government to inappropriately monitor the movements and transactions of every American," Paul warned. "History shows that governments inevitably use the power to monitor the actions of people in harmful ways."

Paul's "Liberty Committee," 22 members of the House who have joined Paul in a coalition to promote individual freedom and limited government, detailed the group's opposition to the Real ID Act in an Action Alert.

"The Real ID Act or Real National ID Act will impose a Soviet-style internal passport on law-abiding American citizens," spokesman Kent Snyder wrote.

The group believes that the bill "punishes law-abiding citizens."

"Criminals will ignore it," Snyder continued. "H.R. 418 offers us a false sense of greater security at the cost of taking a gigantic step toward making America a police state."

The Real ID Act of 2005 is on the House calendar for consideration Wednesday. The bill had 137 cosponsors when Congress began considering it Wednesday afternoon.

 

http://www.thelibertycommittee.org/update02.08.05.htm

Action Alert: Oppose H.R. 418 (national ID)

February 8, 2005


Are the terrorists winning? When al-Qaeda attacked the United States on September 11, 2001, they made it clear they hate America and want to terrorize us into changing America.

If they could, the terrorists would destroy the unique American way of life. But they can't. Only we can do that.

Tragically, too much of the legislation enacted by Congress in a knee-jerk reaction to 9/11 does al-Qaeda's job for them. The Patriot Act took the first, disastrous step toward fundamentally changing our way of life. Then came the homeland security bill, followed by the 9/11 intelligence reorganization bill. And now the Real ID Act of 2005 (H.R. 418) will be voted on Thursday, February 10th.

What's wrong with H.R. 418 -- a bill we are told will stem the flow of illegal aliens through our porous borders? For starters, it does NOTHING to stem the flow of illegal aliens. Instead, H.R. 418 will:

1. Establish a national ID card.
2. Establish a federally-coordinated database of personal information on American citizens with Canada and Mexico.
3. Use the new national ID to track American citizens when traveling outside
the U.S. -- and within the U.S.
4. Re-define "terrorism" in broad new terms that could include members of
firearms rights and pro-life groups or other such groups as determined by
whoever is in power at the time.
5. Authorize the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to unilaterally expand the information included in driver's licenses, including such biometric information as retina scans and DNA information -- and even radio frequency identification (RFID) tracking technology. Carry a driver’s license with RFID and governmental officials will know your whereabouts 24/7.

Incredibly, H.R. 418 does nothing to solve the growing threat to national security posed by people who are already in the U.S. illegally. Instead, H.R. 418 states what we already know: that certain people here illegally are "deportable." But it does nothing to mandate deportation. H.R. 418 fails miserably on this most critical issue.

The Real ID Act or Real National ID Act will impose a Soviet-style internal passport on law-abiding American citizens. Proponents of H.R. 418 say we must "make sacrifices" like this to control our borders and fight illegal immigration. But H.R. 418 is a Trojan horse -- it pretends to offer desperately needed border control in order to stampede Americans into sacrificing what is uniquely American: more of our constitutionally protected liberty. H.R. 418 does what al-Qaeda could never do without our help.

H.R. 418 does what legislation restricting firearm ownership does. It punishes law-abiding citizens. Criminals will ignore it. H.R. 418 offers us a false sense of greater security at the cost of taking a gigantic step toward making America a police state. The terrorists will have won.

Urge your U.S. representative to vote "no" on H.R. 418.
Go to http://capwiz.com/liberty/issues/alert/?alertid=6938731&type=CO

Kent Snyder
The Liberty Committee

 

So much for separations of powers and states rights.


"Those that would sacirfice essential liberty in order to gain temporary safety,deserve neither liberty nor safety.-Benjamin Franklin.

What was that sound? That was ol' Ben turning over in his grave. Our Founding Fathers would be disappointed if they could see what has become of America.

 

"States' Rights"?

WTF are those?
I thought they were extinct/obsolete/abolished...

 

The whole national ID card thing is horrific. I keep thinking about the way in which we've all been "marked" with social security numbers, which at the time they were proposed were supposedly NEVER going to become a national system of identification (*cough*Bullshit!**cough cough**). Now we can't work, apply for social programs, apply for financial aid for college, send kids to public school, get a credit card or bank account, and a million other things without it.

The scariest thing about what's gone on since 9/11 is how OBVIOUS it all is, and how completely oblivious (and/or apathetic) most americans are to it.

 

lol

I wouldn't mind putting down stakes somewhere near Cancun

 

As Orwell said "always create an external enemy so that you may take away rights from within, to take more control of your nation"

Need I say more

 

"The scariest thing about what's gone on since 9/11 is how OBVIOUS it all is, and how completely oblivious (and/or apathetic) most americans are to it."

it is scary, and pathetic how complacent the American populace is. My sister's boyfriend will literally walk out of a room when someone starts talking about current issues or politics. He spends his time watching "the surreal life", professional football, and other trivial expressions of pop-culture garbage. His passions in life are how much money he wants to acquire, how many designer brand items he can own, and how annoying it is when certain actors make the wrong fashion statements. I have to stop typing this, I'm getting angry. LOL

 

Oh how I despise all the little provisions and amendments they like to slip quietly into Bills like this. I used to be completely oblivious to all this when I was younger, and even when I finally turned 18. I was excited to vote, but I had no idea what in the world was going on in the government or elsewhere. As much as ignorance is bliss, I'm glad I finally started paying attention so I could at least TRY to do something about things like this....

 

Who was it said:-


"the bigger the lie the more people will believe it"

 

Well, it looks like the bill cleared the House...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4256211.stm

 

It has several more hurdles before becoming Law.

The Appellate/Supreme Courts have been doing a fairly good job with the 9/11 knee jerk Legislation.

Even if the SC muffs up the first time, there is the possiblity of them coming to their collective Senses the second...

 

It was Hitler by the way