RL32754
Immigration: Analysis of the Major Provisions of H.R. 418, the REAL ID Act of 2005
May 09, 2005

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	U.S. Department of State
	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.

The REAL ID Act of 2005 was first introduced as H.R. 418 by Representative James Sensenbrenner on January 26, 2005, and passed the House, as amended, on February 10, 2005. The text of House-passed H.R. 418 was subsequently added to H.R. 1268, the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief, 2005, which was introduced by Representative Jerry Lewis on March 11, 2005, and passed the House, as amended, on March 16, 2005. H.R. 1268 passed the Senate on April 21, 2005, as amended, on a vote of 99- 0, but did not include the REAL ID Act provisions. A conference report resolving differences between the two versions of the bill, H.Rept. 109-72, passed the House on May 5, 2005. The conference report contains most of the REAL ID Act provisions (though not those relating to the bond of aliens in removal proceedings), though some changes were made to certain REAL ID Act provisions.

This report analyzes the major provisions of the REAL ID Act, as contained in the conference report to H.R. 1268, which would, inter alia, (1) modify the eligibility criteria for asylum and withholding of removal; (2) limit judicial review of certain immigration decisions; (3) 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; (4) expand the scope of terror-related activity making an alien inadmissible or deportable, as well as ineligible for certain forms of relief from removal; (5) 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; (6) 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 (7) 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.