Americans planning on boarding a plane for Wednesday’s domestic flight 20 years after being marked by the delay will need an actual ID. Well, sort of.
The soft launch of a program aimed at enhancing security at airports across the country began midnight amid questions about how new requirements will be made and how lack of compliance by travelers in many states will affect air travel.
Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem told lawmakers Tuesday that travelers without actual ID cards can now board their flights for now after taking additional identity verification measures at airport security checkpoints.
If people show up in airport security without an actual ID, “they could be diverted to another line and they may have extra steps, but people will still be allowed to fly,” Noem told the House Budget Subcommittee on Tuesday. “We recognize this as a security issue.”
Security lines at Southern California airports were moving steadily Wednesday morning as travelers began arriving on flights.
Britney Lee, a 25-year-old Orange County resident, travelled to visit his family in Nashville, waiting about four minutes before the security line at Santa Ana’s John Wayne Airport.
She handed her actual ID to the TSA agent. This is a NOEM recording that advises travelers of enhanced identification deadlines made in the background. Email marketer Lee didn’t know the deadline and acquired her about a decade ago.
“I think it makes sense why people don’t have IDs,” she said. “I mean, no one is not lined up in the DMV.”
Actual ID rollouts have been in the US for many years. Congress passed the Real ID Act in 2005, establishing specific requirements for states to issue IDs that make counterfeiting difficult and require enhanced verification of information contained in cards. The law stems from the 9/11 committee’s recommendation that the federal government establish national standards for identification at a time when national security was at its highest for many Americans.
“We’re looking forward to seeing you in the world,” said Michael O’Rourke, CEO of Advanced Operational Concepts, a global security consulting firm. “This has more stringent requirements to prove you’re the person you say.”
However, not all states were first on this approach. Many state governments have turned back and retreated, citing the burden they place on certain groups, such as denouncement of the IDS imposing, in order to provide the additional documentation that IDs need to obtain identification. The first deadline in May 2008 was pushed back as the federal government negotiated with the states.
By 2020, most states, including California, began to deploy their actual IDs. However, the deadline was delayed once again when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. In late 2022, the Department of Homeland Security said the state’s motor vehicle department would need more time to address the backlog of applications and would need to set a May 2025 final deadline.
Despite the long-standing message, some citizens are resistant to applying for new IDs and are cautioning that they will hand over a lot of that data to the government.
“We’ve been working hard to get the better of our lives,” said Faith Bradley, assistant professor of teaching for information systems at George Washington University.
Bradley, who wrote a doctoral dissertation on the Real ID Act, suspects that many Americans would choose to travel with a passport or other form of acceptable identification rather than obtaining their actual ID.
Transportation Security Agency officials said last month that 81% of TSA Checkpoint travelers offered acceptable identifications, including state-issued real IDs.
Late April, just weeks away from the deadline – a CBS News report revealed that more than half of the country’s states are not complying with issuance of IDs. At the time, California was nearly 55% compliant, according to the outlet.
For weeks, DMV offices across the country are packed with people in a hurry to get their actual IDs before the deadline.
“It’s not going smoothly,” Bradley said of the development, adding that there is inevitably something about the process officials have overlooked.
While some travelers have raised concerns about delays, TSA officials say they don’t expect extended wait times, especially for those with actual IDs, passports or other acceptable forms of identification.
“A passenger who presents a state-issued identification that is not compliant with the actual ID at the TSA checkpoint, and who is notified of a non-compliance form of ID, directed to another area and may undergo additional screening, said on Tuesday in a statement of the era.
It is not clear when the government will drive away travelers without the actual ID of commercial flights.
Times staff writer Karen Garcia contributed to this report
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