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GOP split on repeal of Real ID Congressional Republicans are scrambling to defuse the political time bomb they created in 2005 when they allowed states to issue driver's licenses to illegal aliens — but a key Republican and author of the Real ID Act says their new bill is unconstitutional. "Driver's licenses are issued by the states, not the federal government. I do not believe it is constitutional for the federal government to tell the states who they can issue driver's licenses to and who they can't issue driver's licenses to," said Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., the Wisconsin Republican who wrote the 2005 law and its provision allowing states the option of giving licenses to illegal aliens. Rep. Vito J. Fossella, New York Republican, yesterday introduced a bill to repeal part of Mr. Sensenbrenner's 2005 law and prevent states from issuing licenses to illegal aliens. He also threatened states' highway funds if they fail to comply with the law. Mr. Sensenbrenner also said he doubts the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution would give Congress the power to tell states who they can issue licenses to. At the time he wrote the act, Mr. Sensenbrenner's own state of Wisconsin was among those that allowed illegal aliens to get driver's licenses. The state has since changed its policy. Mr. Sensenbrenner also said changing Real ID would open the bill up to amendments on the House or Senate floor that could gut the 2005 law, could give the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) new grounds for a court challenge, and would stoke the fears of a national identification card....
Panel Wants Troopers on Immigration Enforcement The Virginia Crime Commission called on the General Assembly on Tuesday to ask Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) to require state troopers to help federal authorities detain and deport illegal immigrants. The commission's recommendation, one of a series of actions it took Tuesday related to illegal immigration, will put pressure on Kaine and the newly elected Senate Democratic majority to take up an issue that split state lawmakers during the fall campaign and caused local governments such as Prince William County's to enact their own measures. According to a recent Washington Post poll, an overwhelming majority of Virginians want the state and local governments to do more about illegal immigration. Eight in 10 state residents said they would support a measure requiring local police to check the immigration status of people they suspect of a crime and think may be undocumented. Prince William County police officers soon will check the immigration status of anyone suspected of breaking the law, whether for speeding or shoplifting, if they believe that person is in the country illegally. The 13-member Crime Commission, which is dominated by Republicans, was more guarded, recommending that state police limit their checks of immigration status to people suspected of committing violent, drug-related or gang-related crimes....
High court postpones decision on city gun law The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday postponed a decision on whether it will hear the District's appeal of a federal court ruling that overturned the city's gun ban. The nine-member court was expected to announce yesterday whether it would hear the appeal. No reason was given for the delay, and the next time the court could announce its decision is Nov. 26. "We would not begin to speculate on the inner workings of the court," said Melissa Merz, a spokeswoman for D.C. Attorney General Linda Singer. "Obviously, we're waiting for [the decision], but we believe it will come, and we'll be ready." Four justices must vote in the affirmative to hear the District's appeal of a March ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which found that restricting residents from keeping guns in their homes is unconstitutional. The justices were scheduled to discuss two petitions related to the case at their conference Friday....
Airport screeners missed bomb parts Government investigators smuggled liquid explosives and detonators past airport security, exposing a dangerous hole in the nation's ability to keep these forbidden items off of airplanes, according to a report made public Wednesday. The investigators learned about the components to make an improvised explosive device and an improvised incendiary device on the Internet and purchased the parts at local stores, said the report by the Government Accountability Office. Investigators were able to purchase the components for the two devices for under $150, and they studied the published guidelines for screening to determine how to conceal the prohibited items as they went through checkpoint security. At the end of the testing, investigators concluded that terrorists could use publicly available information and a few cheaply available supplies to damage an airplane and threaten passenger safety. "It is possible to bring the components for several IEDs and one IID through TSA checkpoints and onto airline flights without being challenged by transportation security officers," said the GAO, Congress' investigative arm. The covert tests were conducted at Transportation Security Administration checkpoints at 19 airports in March, May and June of this year....
TSA: No Intent to Tip Off Screeners The head of the Transportation Security Administration denied Wednesday that top agency officials intended to tip off airport security screeners that they were being covertly tested last year. An April 28, 2006 e-mail sent by a TSA employee to airport security officials across the country described an undercover Transportation Department test of screening checkpoints. But agency Administrator Kip Hawley said the message was sent not as a tip-off, but out of concern that al-Qaida or other terrorists might be posing as transportation officials. The incident, now under investigation by the Department of Homeland Security's watchdog, was the topic of a heated congressional hearing on Wednesday. At issue is whether aviation security screeners have been told ahead of time that there would be covert testing at their airports. Doing so would defeat the point of the covert tests. TSA, which is part of the Homeland Security Department, conducts thousands of these tests each year in an effort to spot weaknesses in the screening system. Former Homeland Security Inspector General Clark Kent Ervin said the April incident is part of a pattern of tip-offs. Past investigations found cheating by screeners at Jackson-Evers International Airport in Mississippi and at San Francisco International Airport, the IGs report found....
Canadian firetruck responding to U.S. call held up at border A Canadian firetruck responding with lights and sirens to a weekend fire in Rouses Point, New York, was stopped at the U.S. border for about eight minutes, U.S. border officials said Tuesday. Fire officials battling the blaze called for help from fire departments in nearby Quebec, using a longstanding and often-used mutual aid agreement. But the first truck that arrived at the small Rouses Point border crossing was delayed as officials checked documentation of the firefighters and their truck, officials confirmed. Two other trucks that arrived at the crossing next were cleared in less then two minutes each, a time that one fire official said was still too long considering the situation. "It's embarrassing," said Chris Trombley, chief of the Champlain [New York] Volunteer Fire Department and deputy fire coordinator for Clinton County Emergency Services. "We're calling for help from another country and the first roadblock they hit is at our border." The Canadian firefighters "were asked for IDs," Trombley said. "I believe they even ran the license plate on the truck to make sure it was legal." In the past, firetrucks on emergency calls cleared border checkpoints in 30 seconds or less, Trombley said, although he said identification is sometimes checked upon their return....