I hope that you'll use your position in the Judiciary Committee to oppose the
Senate version of HR 418, the REAL ID Act.  This bill would curtail the
rights of states, immigrants, and everyone who holds a state-issued
identification card.  Immigrants seeking asylum could be required to obtain
supporting documentation from the very governments from which they're fleeing.
State motor vehicle departments would become de facto extensions of the federal
immigration service, denial of driving licences to undocumented immigrants
would increase the numbers of uninsured drivers, and requirements for data
standardisation and data sharing would lay the groundwork for a national
identification card, abridging the privacy of innocent people.

Most alarmingly, even lawful permanent residents could be deported if they're
found to have provided any sort of support to organisations later labelled by
the government as 'terrorist' - even if such support were legal at the time
when it was provided.  For example, hypothetically, individuals who give money
today to an Indonesian organisation involved in tsunami relief could be
deported if that organisation's activities in future years were asserted to be
linked to terrorism.  (The potential for organisations and governments to
change alignments over time is vividly illustrated by the case of Iraq, which
in the 1980's was being aided by the United States.)

This bill would create a crime of ex post facto guilt by association, would
abridge the privacy of innocent people, and would impair the ability of
genuinely persecuted asylum-seekers to prove their claims.  It's bad for all
these reasons, and I urge you to do everything in your power to oppose it.
I look forward to hearing your views on this issue.