RL32754
Immigration: Analysis of the Major Provisions of H.R. 418, the REAL ID Act of 2005
February 02, 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 (Pub. 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. On January 26, 2005, Representative James Sensenbrenner introduced H.R. 418, the REAL ID Act of 2005. 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. 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 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) provide additional waiver authority over laws that might impede the expeditious construction of barriers and roads along the U.S.-Mexican border near San Diego; (4) expand the scope of terror-related activity making an alien inadmissible and deportable (removable), as well as ineligible for certain forms of relief from removal; and (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 (a bill by Representative Tom Davis, containing only the provisions relating to drivers' licenses and personal identification cards, has also been introduced as H.R. 368, the Driver's License Security and Modernization Act). This report describes relevant current law relating to immigration and document-security matters, how H.R. 418 would alter current law if enacted, and the degree to which the bill duplicates existing law. It will be updated as events require.