Subject: Re: been warning about this for a while

That's what these new state IDs with stars on them are for. ICE is supposed to accept that as proof of citizenship.

No, it does not prove you are a citizen. The "real ID" star only means you have shown papers verifying you are who you say you are. You can present a green card, or a foreign passport, for instance, to obtain a "real ID" driver's license.

To obtain mine, I headed to the Secretary of State office, with the birth certificate I have had all my life. The clerk looked at it and said "that isn't a birth certificate. that's a souvenir from the hospital". I protested "it was good enough for the Navy". But the US wasn't nearly as nutty decades ago, as it is now. I had to obtain an official, certified, birth certificate. In Michigan, birth certificates are issued at the county level. Fortunately, my life's wanderings landed me back in the county of my birth, after a 40 year absence, so it was a short drive to the nearest Wayne County Clerk's office. And that birth certificate was not free. In Wayne County, it would have been free, if I was over 65, but I wasn't that old then. So, my cost to obtain that free "real ID" license was the cost of the birth certificate: $24.

Steve