May 2005

Fighting the REAL ID Act

On March 17, 22 members of the ISAIAH Civil Rights of Immigrants (CRI) committee traveled to Wauskesha, Wisconsin to participate in a hearing on the REAL ID Act and the need for immigration reform.  More than 500 people from Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota attended.

The hearing, organized by the Gamaliel affiliate Wisdom, was held in Congressman James Sensenbrenner’s district.  Congressman Sensenbrenner is the chair of the Judiciary Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives which has a great deal of power over  which immigration bills are presented to Congress and he is the author of the REAL ID Act, one of the most anti-immigrant pieces of legislation before Congress. 

Members of the CRI committee of Wisdom had repeatedly requested that Congressman Sensenbrenner hold an in-district hearing on immigration reform so that he could see and hear from the significant number of his constituents who are in favor of comprehensive immigration reform and opposed to the REAL ID Act.  Since he refused to hold the hearing, Wisdom decided to organize one for him.  

The event, which followed the normal Congressional hearing format, was powerful.  Since the Congressman declined to attend, he was represented by a cardboard cut-out.  Anyone who wished could speak to the issues – about 20 people, including ISAIAH leader Miguel Zuñiga, provided compelling testimony demonstrating the need for just immigration reform.  Ireneo Mojica, an ISAIAH leader said of the hearing, “It was exciting to see such a diverse group of people supporting immigration reform and it was great to see the Gamaliel affiliates working together to make the hearing a powerful event!”   The hearing was covered by several news media outlets including the Chicago bureau of Univision, the national Spanish-language television station. 

At the end of the event people were called to take action against the REAL ID Act. Unfortunately, the bill, attached to the Iraq and Afghanistan appropriations bill has been passed by the Senate, and is expected to be signed by President Bush.

The REAL ID Act  will prevent many immigrants, including all 10 million immigrants without documentation, from obtaining driver’s licenses.  It will make it extremely difficult for any immigrant to be granted asylum and mandates the construction of a wall along the border of the United States and Mexico regardless of environmental regulations or Native American treaties.  The law also denies the freedom of assembly to any group that the federal government has designated a “terrorist organization.”