WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced Wednesday that his agency would issue "retooled" regulations concerning national driver's license standards within a matter of weeks and warned states and businesses not to obstruct efforts to crack down on illegal immigration.
In a speech detailing the Department of Homeland Security's accomplishments during 2007, Chertoff urged nationwide compliance with the Real ID Act, which was passed in 2005 following the discovery that several of the Sept. 11 terrorists had used fake identification to board airplanes. That law set nationwide standards designed to make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to secure driver's licenses. Chertoff said he had no illusion about the reactions of California and other states that have fought it on grounds of privacy and security.
Noting that critics have "an ideological discomfort" with national standards for driver's licenses, Chertoff said, "I have yet to hear a persuasive argument for why it is a good thing for privacy to have driver's licenses that are easily forged or counterfeited."
Mike Marando, spokesman for the California Department of Motor Vehicles, said: "California has proactively demonstrated a leadership role by engaging in an ongoing, sustained dialogue with the Department of Homeland Security, and they know what our key issues are: funding, the recertification time frame, privacy and security."
Chertoff also criticized businesses for not embracing the department's E-Verify system, which checks workers' names and Social Security numbers against government databases to determine whether the information is valid. Businesses have complained that inaccuracies have flagged legal employees, including U.S. citizens, as being here illegally. Westat Corp., a private research company, reported last month that almost 10% of foreign-born U.S. citizens processed through E-Verify were initially told they were unauthorized to work.
Chertoff said he was sympathetic to sectors of the economy that rely on illegal workers, acknowledging that employers "were afraid if we enforced the law, that would hurt their business." But, he added, "the wrong way to address that concern is to shut our eyes to lawbreaking and create what I call silent amnesty."
States have said they are being forced to absorb millions of dollars in costs for Real ID, calling the program an unfunded mandate. Chertoff indicated that the Real ID regulations to be issued soon would "satisfy some of these concerns about cost."
