RL32754
Immigration: Analysis of the Major Provisions of H.R. 418, the REAL ID Act of 2005
February 16, 2005

Download Locations:

	Open CRS (User submitted)
	University of North Texas Libraries

Summary:

During the 108th Congress, a number of proposals related to immigration and identification-document security were introduced, some of which were considered in the context of implementing recommendations made by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the 9/11 Commission) and enacted pursuant to the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (P.L. 108-458). At the time that the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act was adopted, some congressional leaders reportedly agreed to revisit certain immigration and document-security issues in the 109th Congress that had been dropped from the final version of the act. H.R. 418, the REAL ID Act of 2005, was introduced by Representative James Sensenbrenner on January 26, 2005, and passed the House, as amended, on February 10, 2005 on a vote of 261-161. House-passed H.R. 418 contains a number of provisions related to immigration reform and document security that were considered during congressional deliberations on the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, but which were ultimately not included in the act's final version. House-passed H.R. 418 also includes some provisions that were not considered during final deliberations over the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act. This report analyzes the major provisions of House-passed H.R. 418, which would, inter alia, (1) modify the eligibility criteria for asylum and withholding of removal; (2) limit judicial review of certain immigration decisions; (3) institute new standards and practices for bonds assuring the appearance of aliens for removal; (4) provide additional waiver authority over laws that might impede the expeditious construction of barriers and roads along land borders, including a 14-mile wide fence near San Diego; (5) expand the scope of terror-related activity making an alien inadmissible or deportable, as well as ineligible for certain forms of relief from removal; (6) require states to meet certain minimum security standards in order for the drivers' licenses and personal identification cards they issue to be accepted for federal purposes; (7) require the Secretary of Homeland Security to enter into the appropriate aviation security screening database the appropriate background information of any person convicted of using a false driver's license for the purpose of boarding an airplane; and (8) require the Department of Homeland Security to study and plan ways to improve U.S. security and improve inter-agency communications and information sharing, as well as establish a ground surveillance pilot program.