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DHS Says REAL ID, Which DHS Certifies, Is Too Unreliable To Confirm US Citizenship (reason.com) 275

An anonymous reader shares a report: Only the government could spend 20 years creating a national ID that no one wanted and that apparently doesn't even work as a national ID. But that's what the federal government has accomplished with the REAL ID, which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) now considers unreliable, even though getting one requires providing proof of citizenship or lawful status in the country.

In a December 11 court filing [PDF], Philip Lavoie, the acting assistant special agent in charge of DHS' Mobile, Alabama, office, stated that, "REAL ID can be unreliable to confirm U.S. citizenship." Lavoie's declaration was in response to a federal civil rights lawsuit filed in October by the Institute for Justice, a public-interest law firm, on behalf of Leo Garcia Venegas, an Alabama construction worker. Venegas was detained twice in May and June during immigration raids on private construction sites, despite being a U.S. citizen. In both instances, Venegas' lawsuit says, masked federal immigration officers entered the private sites without a warrant and began detaining workers based solely on their apparent ethnicity.

And in both instances officers allegedly retrieved Venegas' Alabama-issued REAL ID from his pocket but claimed it could be fake. Venegas was kept handcuffed and detained for an hour the first time and "between 20 and 30 minutes" the second time before officers ran his information and released him.

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DHS Says REAL ID, Which DHS Certifies, Is Too Unreliable To Confirm US Citizenship

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  • by backslashdot ( 95548 ) on Thursday January 01, 2026 @02:16PM (#65895015)

    like being white for example.

  • Only the goverment (Score:5, Insightful)

    by LuniticusTheSane ( 1195389 ) on Thursday January 01, 2026 @02:16PM (#65895017)
    When one party actively sabotages the government, you can't exactly expect it to work.
    • When one party actively sabotages the government, you can't exactly expect it to work.

      It's not even that. Under this administration, the government is (re)arresting US citizens and using REAL ID, the thoroughly Republican legislative effort, as an excuse for fucking up. There's likely nothing wrong with REAL ID itself, just with the government arresting brown people and making excuses about authenticity of their papers afterwards. Par for the course for Trump, fuck up and blame the government he's responsible for.

  • Papers please! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Thursday January 01, 2026 @02:18PM (#65895021)

    So we're at the Papers please! stage of fascism now. Cool. Next up loyalty oaths.

    • Re:Papers please! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Thursday January 01, 2026 @02:31PM (#65895073) Homepage Journal

      We're now beyond that stage, because you can have the federal government approved ID and have them not accept it.

      I am a big white guy, but I have an aggressively Hispanic name. The whole thing (all three parts) is extremely common in Mexico. While both of my parents were born here, none of their parents were. Most of them came from Europe, but one was a Mexican citizen. I have an allegedly real ID. When all this bullshit kicked off, I refreshed my passport, and I carry the passport card.

      The question is, if it ever comes down to it, will they even accept my passport card as proof of citizenship?

      P.S. I've sworn two formal oaths to uphold the constitutions of the USA and California.

      • Re:Papers please! (Score:5, Insightful)

        by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Thursday January 01, 2026 @02:38PM (#65895111)

        They do not care about ID. They care about terrorizing you and acting all powerful.

      • Re:Papers please! (Score:5, Informative)

        by garyisabusyguy ( 732330 ) on Thursday January 01, 2026 @02:56PM (#65895179)

        In the Mexican Repatriation [wikipedia.org] during the early part of the Great Depression, between 300,000 and 2 million people of Mexican heritage were forcibly removed from America, even though a large percentage of them were born here.

        There were no records kept, just a brutal attack on fellow Americans to distract the rest from the poor management of the government and inevitable steps to the Great Depression

        Sometimes History is not content to simply rhyme, it clearly repeats itself.

        One of the factors leading towards this was the absolute control of the media by Randolph Hearst, and his consistent propagandistic support for policies that set Americans against each other

        It should be obvious the Fox News plays a similar role now, and all the Americans born since Hearst's form of Yellow Journalism was flushed down the toilet need to learn why it must be done again

      • Re:Papers please! (Score:4, Insightful)

        by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Thursday January 01, 2026 @07:06PM (#65895737)

        P.S. I've sworn two formal oaths to uphold the constitutions of the USA and California.

        Sorry, but that's not enough. If you want to be sure the current federal government will protect your rights and/or liberty, you also need to formally swear fealty to Donald Trump.

    • Re:Papers please! (Score:5, Informative)

      by Calydor ( 739835 ) on Thursday January 01, 2026 @02:40PM (#65895125)

      Loyalty oaths? You mean like the one you force school children to recite every single day?

    • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      Next up loyalty oaths.

      That's already happening - new federal employees must swear an oath of allegiance to Trump to follow his policies and such.

      Though I think Project 2026 has something to say about that as well. Yes, there is a new Project 2026 document which contains some of the stuff in Project 2025 that hasn't been done yet (e.g., banning pornography) but adds more stuff that they would like done as well

      • Re:Papers please! (Score:5, Insightful)

        by caseih ( 160668 ) on Thursday January 01, 2026 @04:29PM (#65895423)

        I was going to challenge you on that, since the only oath a federal employee has to swear is to honor the constitution. But to even get past the interview stage now you have to declare your loyalty to trump so really that amounts to the same thing in the end. And if a democrat does win the next presidency (which i feel is unlikely), he or she will have to completely clean out the bureaucracy and start over, probably doing their own form of loyalty oaths, which is a very bad thing.

        Administrations have often done things that run afoul of the constitution (and congress too) but in the past when such things were challenged and ruled against by the courts, the president and the administration backed down and honored the constitutional decision. This administration ignores the courts and actively fights the constitution when challenged. It really is a stark turn for the United States.

    • Re:Papers please! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by tchdab1 ( 164848 ) on Thursday January 01, 2026 @04:05PM (#65895379) Homepage

      Um, the guy at the top was using loyalty oaths 6 years ago. We're already into the Concentration Camp stage of fascism, with warrantless & process-free seizure adding a little drama to being off-white: they're taking you just because, not telling anyone where or why, that birth certificate or passport could be fake - bye.
      Next is shooting people who disagree, on a whim and in the street.

  • by unixisc ( 2429386 ) on Thursday January 01, 2026 @02:20PM (#65895033)

    I got my RealID some years ago. It required 5 types of ID. I used my passport, social security card, voter ID paper, phone bill and electric bill. All that satisfied the RealID requirements

    What else do they need? /p?

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      Birth certificate, DNA sample, and Writ of Ethnic Purity.
    • by jonsmirl ( 114798 ) on Thursday January 01, 2026 @02:30PM (#65895065) Homepage

      Read the click-bait article carefully. They are not saying real ID is unreliable, they are saying a real ID card can be forged. When there is suspicion of a forged document it can take longer to verify its authenticity.

      • In that case, they should make it electronic, so that cryptographic solutions, such as hashing, can be applied to them. In fact, once they do that, they can capture everything about the person. So when that person has to show an ID, the reader of the entity doing the asking will only be able to read what it has access to. Like Law enforcement can access driver's license and insurance, but not immigration status. ICE can access passport, but nothing else. TSA can access passport, but nothing else. IRS
        • by sinij ( 911942 )

          In that case, they should make it electronic,

          They absolutely should not. Digital ID is all kinds of a bad idea for all kinds of reasons.

        • If the goal is to make sure that the ID card they check matches you... if my pic was taken when I was 150lbs., it's gonna look different after I gain 80lbs. and start boxing (getting pounded to hamburger changes the shape of your face... look at Stallone).
          The only way to do it right would be: the usual pic and address stuff, also do fingerprint and a pin-prick blood sample... think Gattaca. My face could be damaged boxing or in an accident, my fingerprint could be unreadable (some finger-losing or scarring

          • ...my fingerprint could be unreadable (some finger-losing or scarring accident)...

            I'm in my mid 70s now, and my fingerprints are so worn down that when I turn pages in a book, I have to watch the page numbers to make sure I'm not turning more than one page. A few years ago, I found it impossible to set up the fingerprint reader on a new laptop because of that. I have no idea how that happened, because you'd think that as they get worn down they'd also grow back, but not this time. Are they so badly w
          • by ClickOnThis ( 137803 ) on Thursday January 01, 2026 @06:12PM (#65895625) Journal

            (getting pounded to hamburger changes the shape of your face... look at Stallone).

            Stallone is an actor, not a boxer. He played a boxer in a movie series about one. Ever heard of make-up?

        • It is not a problem with ID. It is a problem with logistics of checking IDs. It was a raid. Multiple people were detained. It takes time to process them. He was released after 20-30 min once officers ran his biometrics as TFA says.
        • In that case, they should make it electronic, so that cryptographic solutions, such as hashing, can be applied to them. In fact, once they do that, they can capture everything about the person. So when that person has to show an ID, the reader of the entity doing the asking will only be able to read what it has access to. Like Law enforcement can access driver's license and insurance, but not immigration status. ICE can access passport, but nothing else. TSA can access passport, but nothing else. IRS can access social security number, but nothing else. The readers would all be exclusively electronic, so that no person can read all the details of the ID holder and gain more than s/he needs to do the job

          Not everyone carries an electronic device with them at all times. So what then? The device addicted among us always seem to forget that not everyone is so afflicted.

      • by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Thursday January 01, 2026 @02:39PM (#65895117)

        They are not saying real ID is unreliable, they are saying a real ID card can be forged.

        The pretense is now set for your legit ID being fake. If the government doesn't like you they can just declare your ID is forged and ICE can snatch you up.

        • by PPH ( 736903 )

          and ICE can snatch you up.

          Those uniforms don't look authentic to me.

        • The pretense is now set for your legit ID being fake.

          Your ID is a piece of plastic until it is authenticated. Just like your badge or your access key.

        • by Duh-People-Really ( 6172216 ) on Thursday January 01, 2026 @07:27PM (#65895809)

          Indigenous ID's have been claimed as fake by ICE too.

          Elaine Miles
          Elaine Miles, an Indigenous actress, faced a situation where she was detained by ICE agents who deemed her tribal ID "fake." This incident occurred while she was walking to a bus stop in Redmond, Washington, and was reported by multiple sources. Miles, who holds a federally recognized tribal enrollment card from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, has faced similar experiences in the past, with her son and uncle being detained by ICE agents who initially refused to accept their tribal IDs. This situation has raised concerns about racial profiling and the treatment of Indigenous people by immigration enforcement agencies.
          Salon.com

      • by LuniticusTheSane ( 1195389 ) on Thursday January 01, 2026 @02:50PM (#65895163)
        ICE badges can also be laughably forged, and it's not like they wear a uniform, or even show their faces.
      • So whenever ICE wants to detain someone, all they need to do is say they suspect a forged ID. And it might "take them a while" to verify it as genuine, especially if they're motivated to believe it's not. So how is this any different for the citizen from not carrying ID in the first place?
      • +100
        Don't worry... it'll descend into an "It's all Trump's fault" argument

        *hands jonsmirl a big bucket of popcorn and opens the beer cooler*

      • by Junta ( 36770 )

        And reading between the lines, they just want to claim any documents that is inconvenient to their objectives may be fake. Modern licenses that do real id are the most counterfeit resistant physical ids ever, including generally the ability to quickly scan and be corroborated instantly by smartphones in the field.

        It's a BS excuse to ignore fourth amendment rights even when a citizen does everything exactly 'right' above and beyond what they should have to do.

    • by suutar ( 1860506 )

      I got mine with just the passport and a bill showing my address. What state were you in?

  • by RitchCraft ( 6454710 ) on Thursday January 01, 2026 @02:31PM (#65895071)

    Tattoo babies born in the USA to US citizens with "Made in USA" on their bottoms. /s

  • "Trump ID Card"

  • "Could be fake?" Anything could be fake. Even a passport. That's a really stupid thing to claim.

    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      No. That is a statement of "You have no rights and we decide what happens here!".

    • by Calydor ( 739835 )

      The masked guy's claim to be an ICE agent could also be fake. Now what?

      • Local police arrest them and charge them with the catch all disorderly conduct charge. It probably won't stick but it would gum things up.

  • by magamiako1 ( 1026318 ) on Thursday January 01, 2026 @02:37PM (#65895101)
    This has been the case since Real ID started. Real ID was never intended to prove citizenship, and in fact, you can get a Real ID as a non-citizen in the country and that's been there since the federal Real ID act. The point of Real ID was to: Standardize State IDs, Standardize Issuance Criteria, Validate Lawful Status (Citizen, Temporary Residence, Conditional Permanent Status, approved Asylum Status, pending asylum application, etc.), Improve documentation verification, specify document retention requirements, provide access to state databases from other states (so they can verify the ID).

    Real ID was never about validating citizenship, which is something that I argued time and time and time again when people argued for shit like Voter ID laws. You can be a non-citizen and totally get a validated Real ID.

    I'm curious as to why this is suddenly coming up. Is it because some entity is trying to head off Real ID voter ID requirements for 2026? To be fair, that person would be correct, since Voter ID is a poll tax *and* Real ID doesn't provide any guarantee you're legally allowed to vote. So this is the correct approach. But it's curious watching this blow up all over the internet suddenly. I thought this was widely known.

    The ONLY documents that provide proof of citizenship are: A Passport, a Passport Card, and maybe an Enhanced Driver's License in a northern border state.
    • by Alan Shutko ( 5101 ) on Thursday January 01, 2026 @02:55PM (#65895175) Homepage

      It's suddenly popping up because Trump wants to deport everyone they can get their hands on, lawful status or not. And they're picking up citizens along the way.

  • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Thursday January 01, 2026 @02:42PM (#65895131)
    And it's not going to matter if you're white. If you go against the administration they will deport you. What's more they can threaten to deport you to a prison if you don't except plea deals and do as they say.

    They're also trying to make Trump derangement syndrome in illness which is the same thing Joseph Stalin did where he declared his enemies mentally ill and have them locked up.

    These aren't clever men they're just using existing tactics to institute a fascist authoritarian state. But the tactics work.

    And there is a bunch of people reading slashdot right now that are looking forward to it. The Fox News Grandpa's that get off on seeing ice goons crack heads.

    A lot of them will be dead before the worst of the shit happens and before it happens to them. But if you're under 60 this shit's going to fuck you up.
    • by magamiako1 ( 1026318 ) on Thursday January 01, 2026 @02:57PM (#65895185)
      They absolutely desire this, but their implementation is going to be difficult. Certainly we are seeing fascists test their ideas and what works right now, and I worry for what comes well beyond the Trump Administration. To be fair, Trump's Administration is really an extension of the Bush Administration's policies. The destruction of public education for example didn't begin with Trump, nor Bush, for that matter. But began with Reagan. The process has been long and slow over the course of 40-50 years. First, make higher education significantly more difficult to obtain. Then increase tax dollars going to private institutions and reduce tax dollars going to public institutions (School Voucher Program under W), to now just absolute flat out destruction of the federal Department of Education (Trump era).

      ICE didn't exist until George W Bush (Homeland Security Act of 2002), and much of its powers stem from this act.

      In short, much of the power that Donald Trump derives today was directly adopted by the Republican Party after 9/11. This is why it's critical to follow these laws.

      With the talk of denaturalization, and potentially modifications/reinterpretation of the 14th Amendment, this only furthers these aims that were started over 2 decades ago under the guise of Republican leadership. In fact, the Republican Party has basically only accomplished two things in the last 25 years: A significant restriction of rights for everyday Americans, and massive fucking tax cuts for the wealthy.

      If the 14th Amendment goes, and it looks like it's in the crosshairs, that is a significant step up that will inevitably allow Republican leadership to define citizenship however they wish to do so. And that should be scary as fuck.

      In short, stop voting Republicans for any office, at any level of government.
      • by shilly ( 142940 )

        While it’s true that much of the power that Trump exercises today nominally derives from GOP post-9/11 legislation and policies, that misses the point of Trump’s admin’s behaviour, because it makes it sound as though they are somehow constrained by legality. They have repeatedly demonstrated that they do not feel in the slightest constrained by legality, only by pushback. They’ve ignored Congress and the Supreme Court as well as lower courts whenever it suits them, and just done what

        • And the supreme Court overturned the lower courts 94% of the time. Having a corrupt supreme Court means Trump can do basically anything as long as he doesn't fuck with the billionaires paying for the supreme court's multi-million dollar vacations and luxury motor coaches.

          Trump is sold something like 2 to 4 billion dollars worth of pardons. It's a little hard to get an exact number but it's definitely not less than 2 billion and it could be as high as $6 billion.
  • Because I remember having to bring a birth certificate to get my current state driver's license.

    But then, this regime has never heard the word "perjury".

  • REAL IDs generally require legal presence. Not all legally present in the US are citizens. And it is entirely possible for someone with a REAL ID to fall out of status during the validity of the ID. So it is 100% accurate to say that a REAL ID in and of itself is not reliable or sufficient to confirm citizenship (or the real issue of immunity from removal). Trying to read a requirement into REAL IDs that doesn't exist is just as disingenuous as DHS' behavior.
    • by spitzak ( 4019 )

      The ID proves who the holder of the ID is, and then they look him up in their database of who is a citizen.

      This "Real ID does not mean citizenship" idea is being repeated over and over again here, seems to be a concerted effort to try to discredit this story.

  • by Alan Shutko ( 5101 ) on Thursday January 01, 2026 @02:53PM (#65895173) Homepage

    RealID isn't intended to prove citizenship. Citizens can get them, as can immigrants with lawful status in the country. That was on purpose, because people with lawful status also travel, enter federal buildings, and do lots of perfectly legal stuff in this country.

    The problem is the Trump administration is intent on finding any reason to kick people out of the country, whether they have lawful status or not. The RealID doesn't tell them whether they have to let you go because you're a citizen.

    • RealID was created so that the per-state IDs can also be used as a single government ID anywhere.

      To qualify for RealID your local state also must review and see a valid proof of your identity other than the previously state issued photo ID (I guess some states were lax on this previously). basically your birth certificate, social security card, and proof of residence within the state (electric bill, property tax bill, etc.).

      Citizenship was never even mentioned, just that the id would be needed in the
      • To obtain a ReaIID, you do not need citizenship, but you do need to demonstrate legal status in the country. That could include one of the following:

        - birth certificate from a US state;
        - US passport;
        - proof of permanent residency (green card); or
        - employment authorization documents (i.e., visas or work permits.)

        An electric bill or property-tax bill may show proof of residency but it does not show legal status.

  • by gurps_npc ( 621217 ) on Thursday January 01, 2026 @03:29PM (#65895253) Homepage

    Yes, REALID is just a new driver's license and of course they can be faked.

    The major problem is that the racists in ICE etc. like to think that illegal immigration is a serious crime, far worse than say bank robbery.

    But you do not get a lawyer in immigration hearings because the Supreme Court has said it is NOT a serious crime - only being the equivalent of a Tort / Civil Infraction (i.e. speeding tickets). That is why you are not entitled to a lawyer for an Immigration Hearing (or traffic ticket), but you cannot be tried without one for a felony or misdemeanor

    • But you do not get a lawyer in immigration hearings because the Supreme Court has said it is NOT a serious crime - only being the equivalent of a Tort / Civil Infraction (i.e. speeding tickets). That is why you are not entitled to a lawyer for an Immigration Hearing (or traffic ticket), but you cannot be tried without one for a felony or misdemeanor

      What are you talking about? You most definitely have the right to have a lawyer represent you for an immigration hearing or traffic ticket. The government just won't pay for one, unless you're mentally disabled.

  • Just because these lawyers argue this in court doesn't mean that DHS actually doesn't consider it secure. It just means they want an excuse for their gestapo-style disappearings.
  • Data sharing with the federal government. That's always why they were pushing it.
  • by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 ) on Thursday January 01, 2026 @04:18PM (#65895407)

    This was kinda spelled out in TFS, but as I understand it, Real ID was just supposed to certify that you are who the ID says you are. It wasn't suppose to verify U.S. citizenship and non-citizens can get Real IDs too. But... you have to show a birth certificate or passport (for which you had to show a birth certificate) to get your Real ID. So they have, or had, your citizenship data at one point. The ID just doesn't show that. Perhaps they just need to update the ID with different shapes/colors for U.S. citizens / non-citizens, etc...

    As a note to U.S. citizens, in addition to (or instead of) a Passport Book, you can get a Passport Card [state.gov], the size of a credit card, noting that it's only good for travel by land and sea from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, and some Caribbean countries. It's less expensive than a Passport Book - Adult price for Card: $30 vs Book: $130. And you can have both.

  • It is time to repeal this difficult and frustrating law. The original chairman that pushed this law very hard is former congressman F. James Sensenbrenner. He fought tooth and nail to make it frustrating, at least the frustrating Driver License Agreement (DLA) did NOT survive outside of the committee meetings before it was passed. The DLA requires traffic tickets from anywhere within North America be reported to the state you are licensed in and requires the state you are licensed in to report the ticket to

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