On Monday during a testimony hearing of HB 4036 before the Public Safety Committee, DPS Chief Judy Brown was called as a neutral witness by Rep. Tommy Merritt, who filed the legislation. HB 4036 is a state legisation that would provide Texas with one Real ID as intended in accordance with the federal regulations.
Rep. Merritt asked if there was any RFID chips in this version of the bill, if it had any biometrics and if there was in fact a DHS database. Chief Judy Brown replied no on all three accounts.
Later, I was called to testify as opposed to the federal-to-state legislation, in which I pointed out that Section 2.14 of HB 4036 called for "facial comparison technology and digital fingerprints" - which is biometrics and verified that there was in fact no RFID chips called for in the licenses.
However, I did add a correction to the notion of the non-existence of a database saying, "There is no DHS database. However there is a database maintained by State Agencies called an Information Analysis Center which stores and shares all kinds of sensitive voter information, license and identity information such as {...} in which the DHS has oversight."
SO WHAT IS DHS DOING RIGHT NOW?!!
Janet Napolitano and Texas Governor Rick Perry's danced a 2-step to preserve continuity of government with some immigration posturing. This trifling of the American identity through the sieve of political documentation came out in this murky account, in the San Antonio Express News.
So to make a point expressly clear to conventional mainstream media, the 5-11 Campaign released this statement to editors and to news outlets.
_____________
Dear Editors,
The federal call to complicity with a national ID card is an inappropriate approach to identifying the “bad actors” in our society.
America is a strong nation. Texas is a great part of that nation. Commercial confidence is not the only priority we have. We are maintaining ourselves well in the face of prospective dangers while persevering in financial crisis. We are strong and capable of answering for ourselves and living above fear.
This is our identity and our heritage.
While I can’t speak for everyone, I do speak for those who have watched the terrible erosion of freedoms taken for granted over the last several years. These error’s apparent, began with what the Austin Chronicle called “the legislative blitz of 2005” : The Patriot Act, The Military Tribunals Act, and the former suspension of Posse Comitatus and the Real ID Act of 2005. This later led to Homeland Security waiving 36 essential state and federal laws to forge eminent domain claims against objections of Texas property owners.
Moreover, The Real ID Act calls for a nationalized ID card [containing biometrics or facial comparison technology and fingerprints, along with your Social Security Number] to be added to a highly insecure national to international database. Your personal data then takes a journey as it joins an Information Analysis Center operated by a State agency. From there it is joined to a network of 57 other fusion centers cross country and then shared with customs in Canada and Mexico, mostly as unprotected data. Contrary to a popular belief, a National ID card doesn’t weed out those undocumented or criminal aliens who have long since figured out how to work around a system where their black market work force identity sustains itself. A National ID card causes Americans to declare their citizenship within their borders as an internal passport.
I do not need an internal passport in the country I was born in and have travelled in all of my life. A driver’s license is for operating a vehicle. It is only one form of acceptable identity in this country. For those so compelled to declare their citizenship as a priority, get a passport.
The Real ID as a National ID plan has been around before the September 11th attacks.
I ask Texans to take their identity personally and to not allow the federal government to slip this leash around your neck. From here law enforcement may conveniently forget who you are and no matter how much identity you materialize it will never be enough to satisfy their demand to arbitrarily detain Texans on the whims of unelected officials.
Don’t get suckered with a nationalized ID.
Best,
Sheila Dean
511Campaign.org
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