By Shenna Bellows, executive director, Maine Civil Liberties Union
Maine was the first state to opt out of the REAL ID, a de facto national identification card. We may be the last. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has thrown down the gauntlet, telling Mainers we won’t be able to fly or will be subjected to horrible screening beginning May 11 if we don’t cave to the Bush administration in accepting REAL ID.
Part of their scaremongering includes letters like these, sent to governors around the country. Of course, the letter is rife with misstatements. Check out what the 9/11 Commission really said about standards for licenses on page 390 of their report. The REAL ID or any other national identification card wasn’t part of their recommendation.
Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) issued a letter to Governor John Baldacci (D) Friday urging him to comply. Congressman Tom Allen (D-ME) has pointed out that Maine’s congressional delegation would better serve Mainers by lobbying Michael Chertoff to back off his threat rather than lobbying Maine to back down in face of this federal encroachment.
The emperor has no clothes of course. It’s not as if any other state will be fully REAL ID-compliant by May. None of them will. DHS has publicly acknowledged that the target date for implementation is 2014 for people under 50 and 2017 for people over 50. This is plain old politics. If DHS can say that all of the states are compliant, then there will be no political will for Congress to repeal the REAL ID.
Montana and South Carolina have joined Maine in telling the federal government "What part of ‘no’ don’t you understand?" I’m sure elected officials in Montana and South Carolina are as desperate to hear from constituents as Maine’s elected officials, who are increasingly worried about the Department of Homeland Security’s threats. That’s why we are encouraging Mainers to contact Governor Balducci and urge him to stand up to bullying from the Department of Homeland Security.