TRUMP 47 SALE: 74% Off VIP Membership - Ends Tomorrow!
Sad Kamala Addresses Army of Losers in Concession Speech That Should've Been Delivered...
It's Official: Trump Bulldozed the Dems' Blue Wall
Behold the Press As They Go Through Eight Stages of Grief Regarding the...
Gun Store Merchant Codes Just Became Endangered
How the Democrats' Most Corrupt Reacted to Trump's Win
Trump Gains Another Win With Arizona
Democrats Blame Everything and Everyone for Kamala's Loss-- But Her
Watch Jon Stewart Have a Meltdown Over Trump's Win
Did This Cost Kamala the Race?
Top Billionaires Congratulate Trump on His 'Hard-Fought Victory'
The View: Kamala Would Have Won If We Had Regulated Social Media
Kamala's Fake Black Accent Obviously Didn't Help Her
Does Rick Scott's Win Boost His Chances for Senate Leadership?
Biden Calls Trump, Invites Him to the White House
OPINION

Pro-migrant Dems Playing Russian Roulette With Our Safety

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Spencer Brown/Townhall

If you're rushing to the airport and forget your photo ID, good luck being allowed on the plane. 

But many migrants without "an acceptable form of identification," according to airport signs, don't need a photo. They get special treatment. 

Advertisement

Migrants who have entered the country using President Joe Biden's new CBP (Customs and Border Protection) One app -- about 422,000 of them -- can fly domestically without photo ID. 

A sign posted in Miami International Airport tells migrants: "1. Notify the TSA officer that you are a migrant. 2. The TSA officer will take a photo (optional). 3. If requested, provide your alien identification number or biographic information."

Taking a photo would allow the TSA officer to confirm that the person boarding matches the person pictured in the CBP One app. But the airport sign repeats, "Photo capture is voluntary." The migrant trying to board could be anybody.

An American without photo ID will likely be grilled for more than an hour and patted down, and their luggage will be gone over inch by inch while their plane takes off without them. 

Businessman Connor Esraelian, who was flying from San Francisco to his home in Chicago, forgot his wallet with his photo ID. He filmed the 75-minute ordeal to get on the plane, posting it on TikTok. He called it "a nightmare."

He didn't get an E-ZPass, but migrants do.

This is our government kowtowing to the immigration lobby and putting Americans second, safety be damned. 

Even worse is the 16-year delay in implementing the Real ID Act, passed in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks to prevent people from using lax forms of ID to illegally get on planes. 

Advertisement

Most of the hijackers used state driver licenses issued by states with lax requirements to get on the planes. They weren't in the country illegally. 

Following the 9/11 Commission's recommendation, Congress enacted Real ID, barring TSA from accepting state driver licenses or other IDs that don't require proof of being in the U.S. legally. Real ID was supposed to go into effect in 2008, but it's been repeatedly delayed. Now the official start date is May 2025. Don't hold your breath.

All 50 states now provide Real ID licenses to legal residents who request them. But blue states such as New York and Illinois are normalizing being illegal.

Illinois used to issue a license for illegals with a purple stripe across the top and the words "Not Valid for Identification." But last June, Illinois discontinued it, in Gov. J.B. Pritzker's words, "decreasing stigma and creating more equitable systems for all." 

Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias said the purple stripe had become "the 'Scarlet Letter' of someone's immigration status." Now legal and illegal residents of Illinois will qualify for the same "standard license" that says "Federal Limits Apply," a fuzzy reference to the May 2025 deadline. In the meantime, illegals are boarding planes.

The same is true in New York state, which issues a "standard" license available to everyone, including illegals. It carries a vague notation, "Not for Federal Purposes," which applies only after May 2025. The state Department of Motor Vehicles is barred from even asking a customer about citizenship status. 

Advertisement

New York City's ID program also blurs the distinction between legals and illegals. It's advertised as one ID for all New Yorkers regardless of immigration status. The card looks like a state driver license, and nothing -- not one word -- alerts the viewer otherwise. It's unlikely to work on a plane, but likely to allow anybody to get past security and into the elevator in an office tower. 

An open southern border flooded with millions of migrants from over 100 countries, some hostile to America, puts our nation at risk. Most migrants are just desperately seeking economic opportunity. But it only took a handful of sinister actors with misleading ID to bring down the World Trade Center and cost nearly 3,000 Americans their lives. 

Allowing migrants -- or anyone -- to board airplanes without photo ID, and promoting ID cards that blur that lines between legal and illegal, sabotage us. Don't let Biden and the hard left play Russian roulette with our lives. Remember 9/11.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos