On Friday evening, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that a digital ID known as a Real ID, which requires a high resolution digital facial image, would be required by May 7 to fly and enter federal buildings.
"Starting May 7, you will need a Real ID to travel by air or to visit federal buildings in the United States," Noem said in a video posted to X. "These IDs keep our country safe because they help prevent fraud and they enhance security."
After Noem's post, a wave of backlash ensued.
"Why not delay it like past administrations did so you can hear from the people on it? Americans don't want a big government surveillance state," the popular conservative account, the Hodgetwins, asked.
"Real ID is unconstitutional. What the heck are y'all doing?" cofounder of The Leading Report, Patrick Webb, exclaimed.
By Saturday, Noem's announcement prompted a response from Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky.
"Real ID isn't needed and won't stop terrorists from hijacking planes," Massie wrote. "Most of the 9/11 hijackers held Saudi, UAE, Egyptian, or Lebanese passports. Real ID is a national standard and database of IDs that is primarily a tool for control of Americans. Trump shouldn't enforce it."
In 2005, President George W. Bush signed the REAL ID Act into law. It was authored by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis. — the same author of the Patriot Act.
Appending Noem's announcement, the TSA wrote on Friday it would "no longer accept state-issued identifications that are not REAL ID compliant at TSA security checkpoints. All airline passengers 18 years and older, including TSA PreCheck® members, must present REAL ID-compliant identification or another acceptable ID, such as a passport, at TSA security checkpoints. Noncitizens illegally present in the U.S. who are voluntarily self-deporting on international flights will not be denied boarding under this requirement."
In light of the thousands of criticisms Noem's post received, according to the American Policy Center, "the Real ID Act has many tentacles that are each very egregious. The law, Public Law 109-13, The Real ID Act 2005 is not a terribly long law, but it does have hundreds of pages that were published as part of the Rulemaking process."
Among those rules the organization outlined is the risk of losing the 2nd Amendment.
"You may wrongly believe the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security would never add purchasing a firearm and/or ammunition to the OFFICIAL PURPOSE of the Real ID Act 2005," the group wrote. "In fact, Democrats in California have already made a move in that direction. The attempt failed at the time because all States/Commonwealths were not yet certified as being Real ID compliant. In 2021, the Department of Homeland Security certified all States/Commonwealths as being Real ID compliant."
"The Secretary of the DHS can require the seller of the firearm and/or ammunition to swipe the back of the Real ID compliant drivers' license and provide the information to the DHS," they added. "The MRZ (Machine Readable Zone) on the back of the drivers' license is not encrypted. The MRZ contains the information on the front of your drivers' license."
But among the question of gun rights looms the concern of the digital ID branching into other areas of peoples' lives.
In 2008, an analysis of digital IDs published by the Electronic Privacy Information Center quoted former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff as saying, that "'embracing REAL ID' would mean it would be used to 'cash a check, hire a baby sitter, board a plane or engage in countless other activities.'"