Almost two decades ago, in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the US Congress passed the REAL ID Act requiring all state-issued driver’s licenses to have certain features to be accepted by federal agencies. With the Act only now coming into force on May 7, Magdalena Krajewska looks at why its implementation was delayed for so long and how momentum behind it continued despite a number of challenges.

From May 7, Americans traveling on commercial airplanes or entering certain federal buildings will find their driver’s licenses are no longer accepted for identification purposes unless they meet standards established by a 20-year-old law, the REAL ID Act. But why was it enacted, why has its enforcement been delayed for so long, and what does it now mean for Americans?

Why was the REAL ID Act adopted?

After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the realization that the hijackers had obtained numerous driver’s licenses, some of them fraudulently, elected officials from across the political spectrum urged adoption of more uniform processes for issuing state driver’s licenses to improve the security of these documents. In its July 2004 report recommending that federal standards be established for driver’s licenses and other documents, the 9/11 Commission stressed the connection between document security and terrorism prevention: “At many entry points to vulnerable facilities, including gates for boarding aircraft, sources of identification are the last opportunity to ensure that people are who they say they are and to check whether they are terrorists.”

Congress initially responded by passing the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA) in December 2004, which required the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Transportation (DOT) to work together to issue regulations requiring all driver’s licenses to possess certain features before federal agencies could accept them for official purposes. The following year, Congress passed the REAL ID Act and President George W. Bush signed the law, which set out a different process under the sole direction of DHS and imposed stricter federal standards. 

What does the REAL ID Act require?           

Congress lacks the power to directly mandate that states change the way they issue driver’s licenses. Instead, the REAL ID Act establishes standards for state-issued driver’s licenses (and for state ID cards issued to non-drivers) and then stipulates that licenses failing to comply with these standards will not be accepted when individuals try to board commercial aircraft, access certain federal facilities, or enter nuclear power plants.

These federal standards require that states verify certain documents that must be presented by applicants for a REAL ID-compliant license and present valid documentary evidence of lawful status in the United States. Noncitizens are eligible for REAL ID-compliant licenses if they can present evidence that they are lawfully present in the United States or are in temporary protected status or have approved deferred action status, or have a pending application for this status. 

States can still issue driver’s licenses that are not compliant with REAL ID, but these non-compliant licenses must clearly state so on the face of the document and use a unique color identifier or design to alert officials not to accept those documents as identification for federal purposes.

States are also each required to maintain a database that must contain all data fields that are printed on the face of the driver’s license and data fields that are contained in the machine-readable zone but not printed on the card.

Why is the REAL ID Act only being enforced now, 20 years after it was enacted?           

Although the REAL ID Act called for enforcement to begin in 2008, DHS granted a series of extensions, before eventually settling on the current May 7, 2025 deadline. A number of these extensions were granted because it took states longer than initially envisioned to change their driver’s license processes to comply with REAL ID standards, in part because some governors and state legislators expressed concerns about the law and initially vowed not to comply with it.

Some state officials criticized the law for being an unfunded mandate, where the federal government makes the rules while states bear the costs. Other opposition, expressed by some state officials and by libertarian groups, was rooted in concerns about privacy and the database of driver’s license information each state was required to maintain. Fears were also expressed, both by state officials and civil liberties advocacy groups, that the REAL ID Act could be seen as effectively turning state driver’s licenses into national identification cards. Led by Maine in 2007, a number of state legislatures enacted laws opposing the REAL ID Act, with some states going so far as to bar any state officials from helping to implement its requirements.

“ID Requirements Are Changing January 22,” (CC BY 2.0) by Erica _ Fischer

DHS took a number of steps to overcome opposition from elected state officials and lead states to eventually bring their driver’s licenses into compliance with REAL ID standards. Of particular importance were efforts by officials in the REAL ID Program Office within DHS to forge partnerships with leaders of state Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) offices. State DMV officials were particularly concerned with preventing fraud and saw the REAL ID Act as assisting in this goal and were willing to partner with the REAL ID Office on implementation, even when elected state officials were expressing opposition. DHS was also willing to grant extensions to allow states more time to come into compliance with the law and give states credit for making partial progress, with the view that states showing some progress were likely to continue.

The COVID-19 pandemic created another challenge for implementing the REAL ID Act. At the start of 2020, nearly 15 years after the law’s passage, all states were either issuing REAL ID-compliant licenses or poised to do so by that summer, and DHS was preparing to enforce an October 1, 2020, deadline when non-REAL ID-compliant licenses would no longer be accepted for federal purposes. In March 2020, however, the COVID-19 pandemic upset these plans, as it upset so many others. After President Trump declared a national emergency, it became clear that the enforcement date would need to be pushed back another year, to October 1, 2021. Over the next several years, with state DMV offices closed or offering reduced hours and individuals remaining reluctant to leave their houses during the pandemic, DHS granted further extensions, until finally setting a May 7, 2025, enforcement deadline.

In September 2024, DHS faced a decision about whether to adhere to this deadline or grant still another extension. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas took the critical step of keeping the May 7, 2025, deadline, while allowing the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) to exercise flexibility in enforcing this deadline.

What accounts for the resilience of the REAL ID Act? 

Several lessons can be drawn from this two-decade experience about the reasons why the REAL ID Act survived in the face of a number of challenges. Of particular importance was the perseverance of officials in the REAL ID Office situated within DHS and their ability to develop relationships with state DMV officials. This partnership between administrative officials at the federal and state levels proved particularly important in overcoming opposition from elected state officials and an occasional lack of enthusiasm on the part of top DHS officials.

DHS also developed various strategies for moving the process of implementation forward. This included crediting states for making partial progress toward implementation, with the idea that this would eventually result in states making even more progress. Additionally, DHS was willing on several occasions to extend the enforcement deadline, to allow states to change their driver’s license processes and then during the pandemic to allow individuals more time to obtain REAL ID licenses. DHS also proved willing, at a critical stage late in the process, to reject pleas for further delays in the enforcement deadline, in a way that appears to have been effective in prodding those who had been refraining from obtaining REAL ID licenses to finally do so.

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• Note: This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of USAPP – American Politics and Policy, nor the London School of Economics.