MORNING GLORY: 'REAL ID' is coming for you

It is my second trip to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles in four days. I admit from the start it is my fault that I had to make two trips. When I traveled two weeks ago, the friendly TSA agents reminded me —repeatedly— that come May 7, I would need to bring my passport as my valid Virginia driver’s license was non-compliant with the REAL ID Act.

I was vaguely aware that the push for new "REAL" IDs was back, the requirement to obtain one having been suspended during Covid, but unaware that the deadline loomed.

So last Thursday I trekked to my local DMV office, bringing along my current, valid, Virginia driver’s license, my current, valid passport, my Social Security Card and my birth certificate. Surely, I supposed, that would be enough as I’d been assured I could fly with just the passport by the helpful Team TSA. 

REAL ID REJECTION BY AMERICANS MAY COME DOWN TO ONE SURPRISING FACTOR

I definitely needed the new license because, while a "REAL ID is an optional, upgraded version of your driver’s license or ID card that has a star in the right corner," I had no star and no desire to carry my passport everywhere. 

Not surprisingly, a lot of people want to get their"REAL ID" for as the VA DMV helpfully alerts you: "Beginning May 7, 2025, the federal government will require you to present a REAL ID compliant driver's license or ID card, or another federally approved form of ID, in order to board a domestic flight or enter a secure federal facility or military base (some military bases may already require REAL ID or a federally approved form of ID*)."

The DMV opens at 8 AM, so I rolled up last Thursday at 7:30 AM. The line was already more than a dozen people long. An hour later more than 50 good folks were standing in the rope line waiting for one of the three DMV employees assigned to the REAL ID processing. The average processing time was 15 minutes —at the head of the line. You may want to pack a lunch if you get there at official opening time. 

It had not occurred to DMV to perhaps add some staff for REAL ID deadline days, or reassign others from the standard busy work. No. Just three DMVers on Thursday and three again on Monday. 

I’d flunked REAL ID eligibility last week because none of my current documents list my home address. I use a P.O. Box for a variety of reasons on my driver’s license and had —wrongfully it turns out— thought that as a passport could get me on the plane, my passport plus my driver’s license, birth certificate and Social Security card should serve to secure my star, right?

Wrong. I needed a utility bill or a mortgage statement or a voter registration card with my home address on it. When I smiled my mild protest that, as a valid passport is sufficient to board a plane, why would it not be sufficient to obtain my "REAL ID" I got the DMV look back. It’s the same look at every DMV everywhere. She had heard it all before, but it says on the VIrginia DMV website that I needed documents with my home address. Hadn’t I read the DMV website?

Ms. DMV sent me home in search of "secondary documents" with my physical address on it. "Your house deed will work" she helpfully offered. 

I dutifully trooped off to my Registrar of Voters and got a voter card with my home address on it. I added a print out of a utility bill and a print out of my mortgage and returned three days later. And held my breath. 

The young’n in front of me was getting shot down and was not happy. He’d taken off work. He’d just moved here. He worked remotely and didn’t have a boss who could write him a letter with his home address on it. He hadn’t opened a bank account. 

There were unhappy Virginia drivers at windows two and three as well, perplexed that their state government was making it difficult for them to get a new version of their perfectly legal driver’s license. 

Expressing dismay at a DMV counter is a rookie mistake. Never, ever express unhappiness or dissatisfaction of any sort with anyone at any DMV. Ever. It will become a mark in your permanent record, and while nothing else moves quickly among the nation’s DMVs, word of troublemakers challenge light speed in their travels. My advice is based on experience with four state DMVs and the District of Columbia DMV (the latter is where crying citizens can be seen on an almost on-demand basis.)

So having obtained the paperwork and a promise that the new license would be sent —to my P.O. Box, of course— I decided to search out the original reason for "Real ID." 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION

Turns out that "The REAL ID Act" was passed in 2005, following recommendations from the 9/11 Commission to set federal standards for state-issued identification. 2005! Now, it’s been 20 years since the law passed and almost 24 since 9/11, so the next question is "Why the urgency now?"

As far as I can tell from the Transportation Security Agency website, the May 7 deadline is now because it is – there had to be a deadline sometime. It’s the same reason that octogenarians are routinely pulled aside for special screening because the buzzer sounds at the TSA station. Doesn’t matter if you have "TSA-pre" or "Clear" or have zero luggage and not even a sweater. The buzzer is the virtual guillotine, and there are Madame Defarges everywhere to enforce the buzzer. 

Here’s the good news. If you entered the country without permission but obtained "Temporary Protected Status" under one of the Biden-era machinations, you too can get a "REAL ID: "Yes, a TPS beneficiary or individual with a pending TPS application can obtain a REAL ID compliant license or identification card: "The Secretary of Homeland Security may designate a foreign country for TPS due to conditions in the country that temporarily prevent the country's nationals from returning safely, or in certain circumstances, where the country is unable to handle the return of its nationals adequately. USCIS may grant TPS to eligible nationals of certain designated countries (or parts of countries), who are already in the United States. Eligible individuals without nationality who last habitually resided in the designated country may also be granted TPS." Such folks are eligible for REAL ID. 

Good to know that. But better to know the passport that will get you on to the plane come Wednesday will not get you a REAL ID. Forewarned is forearmed. 

Hugh Hewitt is a Fox News contributor, and host of "The Hugh Hewitt Show," heard weekday mornings 6am to 9am ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh wakes up America on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990. Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcast, and this column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM HUGH HEWITT