[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 17 (Wednesday, February 16, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E258-E259]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          REAL ID ACT OF 2005

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. GARY G. MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 10, 2005

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 418) to 
     establish

[[Page E259]]

     and rapidly implement regulations for State driver's license 
     and identification document security standards, to prevent 
     terrorists from abusing the asylum laws of the United States, 
     to unify terrorism-related grounds for inadmissibility and 
     removal, and to ensure expeditious construction of the San 
     Diego border fence.

  Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in 
strong support of the REAL ID Act. I am pleased to join my colleagues 
in supporting a bill that not only tightens lax standards and loopholes 
in the current driver's license issuance process, but strengthens a 
judge's ability to determine whether or not an asylum seeker is 
truthful, and provides for the completion of the 14 mile long San Diego 
Border fence that has been halted by radical environmentalists. This 
bill will help implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission and 
complete the intelligence reform we started during the last session of 
Congress.
  The 9/11 Commission found that travel documents were as important to 
the terrorists as were their weapons. The simple fact is that if the 9/
11 terrorists had not been able to enter the United States and operate 
freely--to obtain driver's licenses, open bank accounts, rent homes and 
cars, and board airplanes--they would not have been able to commit mass 
murder on that fateful day. To ensure that future terrorists no longer 
have access to legal loopholes to enter and remain at large in the 
United States, the REAL ID Act will establish minimum document and 
issuance standards for Federal acceptance of driver's licenses and 
State-issued personal identification cards. In addition, this 
legislation will require applicants to provide proof they are in the 
country legally, and tie the expiration date of the documents with the 
expiration of an alien's authorized term of stay. I believe that this 
bill enhances the security of all our Nation's identity documents so we 
are able to establish that people are who they say they are.
  The bottom line is that our current laws fail to prevent those who 
may be harmful to the security of our Nation from operating freely and 
undetected in the United States. The ongoing stories of how terrorists 
took advantage of our broken immigration system provide the strongest 
evidence that we need to pass the REAL ID Act to make America safer. If 
the war on terrorism is to be ultimately successful, it is more 
important than ever that we take the necessary steps to strengthen 
security at our borders and provide law enforcement agencies the tools 
they need to identify those individuals who enter or remain in the 
United States illegally. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of the 
REAL ID Act and demonstrate that the security of our Nation is our top 
priority.

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