Post by Okwes on Mar 28, 2008 12:34:16 GMT -5
It's getting tougher for Indians to prove ID
By FAITH BREMNER
Tribune Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Ron His Horse Is Thunder lives where his ancestors lived for
thousands of years. The U.S. Interior Department keeps records of his family
that go back at least 100 years.
But he said that doesn't stop government security screeners from challenging
his credentials whenever he attempts to board an airplane or enter a
government building by using his tribal identification card instead of a
state-issued driver's license. Indian tribes are sovereign entities, which consider
their ID cards equal to those issued by other governments.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Native Americans have found it
increasingly difficult to use their tribal cards to prove their identity —
and it's about to get harder. "Most of the federal agencies and airports don't
have a history of working with Indian people," said His Horse Is Thunder,
chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation on the North and South Dakota
border. "We're 1 percent of the population or thereabouts and most agencies,
whether they're federal or state, don't know what a tribal ID looks like, much
less the process we have to go through to get a tribal ID."
Starting May 11, the Real ID Act passed in 2005 will require air travelers
and visitors to government buildings to present a new secure driver's license,
or some other acceptable form of identification, such as a passport.
Forty-six states have received a waiver from the requirement, which is good
until the end of 2009, based on their need for more time to get their new
driver's license programs up and running. Four states — Montana, Maine, New
Hampshire and South Carolina — have until March 31 to request a temporary waiver.
The new secure driver's licenses won't be easy to get for elderly and poor
tribal members. The Homeland Security Department's new Real ID regulations
prohibit states from accepting tribal IDs as proof of identification when
issuing the new licenses. Only birth certificates, passports — which cost $100 —
or permanent resident alien green cards will be acceptable forms of
identification at the Department of Motor Vehicles.
"Some of our tribal members don't have a birth certificate and the older
ones were born at home," said Gordon Belcourt, executive director of the
Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council. "I don't know a lot of Indian people in
Montana who have a passport."
The Montana Legislature last year passed a law that prohibits the state from
complying with the Real ID Act. Homeland Security officials have warned the
state that its residents will have to either present a passport or undergo
extra screening to board an airplane.
"For Indian people, it's different — we're a little browner than everybody
else," Belcourt said. "When you look around and see who's pulled out for
additional screening, they're either brown, red or black."
Belcourt said he frequently had to undergo random additional screenings at
airports after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"It's beginning to loosen up, but with the Real ID deadline coming up, I
think we'll go back to the early 9/11 era," he said.
Nothing in the Real ID Act prohibits the Transportation Security
Administration and other government agencies from accepting tribal IDs now and in the
future, said Jonathan Frankel, a senior policy adviser for the Department of
Homeland Security.
"What the Real ID act says is ... federal agencies are prohibited from
accepting, for official purposes, state-issued driver's licenses that don't comply
with the Real ID Act (requirements)," Frankel said. "It says nothing about
other forms of ID. (Government officials) may have, on their own, decided that
they want this kind of document and not that kind of document, and that's
their choice. But that choice is not compelled by the law ... and no one is
consulting with DHS about those choices."
The National Congress of American Indians, a lobbying group for the nation's
tribes, is considering asking DHS to remind airport screeners and others
that tribal IDs are an acceptable form of identification. They are also asking
that DHS change its regulations so that state DMV's can accept tribal ID cards
as a form of identification when they start issuing the new secure driver's
licenses. If that doesn't work, tribes will probably ask Congress for a
legislative fix, said Heather Dawn Thompson, the NCAI's director of
intergovernmental relations.
"We are hopeful that there might be an administrative fix, that we can work
through this," Thompson said.
Meanwhile, His Horse Is Thunder mostly relies on his driver's license as his
first form of ID when boarding an airplane and only presents his tribal ID
when he wants to test the system. He said it's ironic that Indians have to
prove that they belong in the United States.
"That's the unfortunate thing about being a Native American," he said.
"We've had to do that ever since they put us on reservations."
Contact Gannett News Service reporter Faith Bremner at
_fbremner@gns.gannett.com_ (mailto:fbremner@gns.gannett.com)
By FAITH BREMNER
Tribune Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Ron His Horse Is Thunder lives where his ancestors lived for
thousands of years. The U.S. Interior Department keeps records of his family
that go back at least 100 years.
But he said that doesn't stop government security screeners from challenging
his credentials whenever he attempts to board an airplane or enter a
government building by using his tribal identification card instead of a
state-issued driver's license. Indian tribes are sovereign entities, which consider
their ID cards equal to those issued by other governments.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Native Americans have found it
increasingly difficult to use their tribal cards to prove their identity —
and it's about to get harder. "Most of the federal agencies and airports don't
have a history of working with Indian people," said His Horse Is Thunder,
chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation on the North and South Dakota
border. "We're 1 percent of the population or thereabouts and most agencies,
whether they're federal or state, don't know what a tribal ID looks like, much
less the process we have to go through to get a tribal ID."
Starting May 11, the Real ID Act passed in 2005 will require air travelers
and visitors to government buildings to present a new secure driver's license,
or some other acceptable form of identification, such as a passport.
Forty-six states have received a waiver from the requirement, which is good
until the end of 2009, based on their need for more time to get their new
driver's license programs up and running. Four states — Montana, Maine, New
Hampshire and South Carolina — have until March 31 to request a temporary waiver.
The new secure driver's licenses won't be easy to get for elderly and poor
tribal members. The Homeland Security Department's new Real ID regulations
prohibit states from accepting tribal IDs as proof of identification when
issuing the new licenses. Only birth certificates, passports — which cost $100 —
or permanent resident alien green cards will be acceptable forms of
identification at the Department of Motor Vehicles.
"Some of our tribal members don't have a birth certificate and the older
ones were born at home," said Gordon Belcourt, executive director of the
Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council. "I don't know a lot of Indian people in
Montana who have a passport."
The Montana Legislature last year passed a law that prohibits the state from
complying with the Real ID Act. Homeland Security officials have warned the
state that its residents will have to either present a passport or undergo
extra screening to board an airplane.
"For Indian people, it's different — we're a little browner than everybody
else," Belcourt said. "When you look around and see who's pulled out for
additional screening, they're either brown, red or black."
Belcourt said he frequently had to undergo random additional screenings at
airports after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"It's beginning to loosen up, but with the Real ID deadline coming up, I
think we'll go back to the early 9/11 era," he said.
Nothing in the Real ID Act prohibits the Transportation Security
Administration and other government agencies from accepting tribal IDs now and in the
future, said Jonathan Frankel, a senior policy adviser for the Department of
Homeland Security.
"What the Real ID act says is ... federal agencies are prohibited from
accepting, for official purposes, state-issued driver's licenses that don't comply
with the Real ID Act (requirements)," Frankel said. "It says nothing about
other forms of ID. (Government officials) may have, on their own, decided that
they want this kind of document and not that kind of document, and that's
their choice. But that choice is not compelled by the law ... and no one is
consulting with DHS about those choices."
The National Congress of American Indians, a lobbying group for the nation's
tribes, is considering asking DHS to remind airport screeners and others
that tribal IDs are an acceptable form of identification. They are also asking
that DHS change its regulations so that state DMV's can accept tribal ID cards
as a form of identification when they start issuing the new secure driver's
licenses. If that doesn't work, tribes will probably ask Congress for a
legislative fix, said Heather Dawn Thompson, the NCAI's director of
intergovernmental relations.
"We are hopeful that there might be an administrative fix, that we can work
through this," Thompson said.
Meanwhile, His Horse Is Thunder mostly relies on his driver's license as his
first form of ID when boarding an airplane and only presents his tribal ID
when he wants to test the system. He said it's ironic that Indians have to
prove that they belong in the United States.
"That's the unfortunate thing about being a Native American," he said.
"We've had to do that ever since they put us on reservations."
Contact Gannett News Service reporter Faith Bremner at
_fbremner@gns.gannett.com_ (mailto:fbremner@gns.gannett.com)