In Tuesday’s Examiner, a spokesman for the tax-supported CASA of Maryland admitted that it has handed out more than 10,000 “identification cards” to immigrants in Montgomery County without even so much as requiring proof of residency. As one arrival from El Salvador told Examiner reporters Kathleen Miller and Dena Levitz, “At least it’s something to show who you are.”
But these phony IDs do nothing of the sort. The only thing they show is that the people holding them talked to CASA. Why does CASA — which is partially funded by Montgomery County’s government — hand out IDs that look official but have no legal force? Because, as CASA officials freely admit, the cards are used to bypass federal homeland security rules requiring proof of identity for banking transactions. The spurious IDs issued by CASA are also used to evade county-required proof of residency to enroll children in school or collect other county benefits.
This is deliberately meant to deceive the public and government officials into believing that CASA has checked out ID holders’ bona fides when nothing of the sort was ever done. Not only are these cards dubious as identification, they can be an instrument of fraud if used to obtain public benefits illegally. They’re also a sneaky way to skirt federal laws that prohibit employers from hiring illegal immigrants. It begs credulity to think that banking, business and government officials who accept CASA IDs as legitimate don’t know that they are aiding and abetting a variety of crimes.
Worst of all, these counterfeit IDs are an open invitation to terrorists who want to enter this country to kill Americans. It was only six years ago that Sept. 11 terrorists used state-issued driver’s licenses while preparing their murderous plot. Today, driver’s licenses are still used at airports in clearing passengers for commercial flights. It’s chilling to think that CASA’s flimsy IDs might help terrorists get driver’s licenses, in the process posing a threat to public safety.
Four states — New Hampshire, Montana, Oklahoma and Washington — refuse to comply with the Real ID Act of 2005, so their driver’s licenses soon won’t suffice for entering federal buildings or boarding airplanes.
If fake IDs like CASA’s are ever accepted on a par with a Social Security card or U.S.-issued birth certificate, complying states like Maryland will become magnets for those who intend to use officially accepted driver’s licenses as tools in doing evil. This scam should be stopped now.
