DHS Says DHS-Certified Real IDs Too Unreliable to Confirm U.S. Citizenship

DHS just told a court that the government’s own REAL ID—the fancy driver’s license you get after showing piles of paperwork—is “unreliable” for proving U.S. citizenship. Cue an internet meltdown. The spark: an Alabama construction worker, a U.S. citizen, was detained twice during immigration raids even after officers pulled his REAL ID from his pocket. The agency’s explanation? States can issue REAL IDs to non‑citizens, so the card isn’t proof of citizenship. The community’s vibe: You’ve got to be kidding. One camp sees straight-up rights violations, not a tech fail. As one commenter put it, DHS is “tripping over itself to justify unlawful detention,” while another dropped a chef’s-kiss line about laws protecting “in‑groups” but not binding them. Others rolled their eyes: “Is anyone surprised?” Meanwhile, meta-drama hit when a reader misread “DHS” as “DHH” (the tech founder), spawning jokes about who’s really in charge of IDs. And yes, there’s a backlash to the article’s framing too—some say blaming the card is a convenient excuse for detaining people who “look Mexican.” The result: a thread that’s half civil liberties alarm bell, half comedy roast, with the bigger question hanging over it all—if REAL ID isn’t real enough, what is? Read the filing here.