BTC - Which terrorist criminal alien did the bureaucrats catch this time? Not exactly. Vanessa Driskell's name can be added to the lengthening list of individuals caught in the grist of the Real ID mill. She's a citizen, but who she really is isn't enough.
Who does Real ID catch? The young, the old and the Constitutionally infirm. No terrorists yet.
When foreign terrorists with American driver's licenses flew airliners into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, Congress moved to tighten the requirements for obtaining official state identification.
The resulting REAL ID Act has yet to take full effect — at least half the states, including Oregon, have refused to comply with all or parts of it — but many states now require proof of citizenship or legal residence before a driver's license can be issued.
The requirement is not unreasonable, as long as allowances are made for people who are citizens but for some reason cannot produce a birth certificate. These include older Americans born in remote areas where births were recorded haphazardly or not at all, and in some cases people born overseas to American parents.
Vanessa Driskell of Medford is an example of the second case, and her frustrating four-year battle to prove her citizenship shows the federal government needs a better way to respond to situations like hers.
The 20-year-old was born at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines while her father was stationed there. A series of circumstances beyond the family's control, including a volcanic eruption and the base's evacuation, meant her birth never was properly recorded.
Now, she cannot obtain a driver's license or a passport.
What is most frustrating for Driskell is that no one in the federal bureaucracy seems able or willing to help her. :::MORE HERE:::
No comments:
Post a Comment