State of Washington-issued driver's licenses could not be used as ID for airport security checks or border crossings under legislation being debated this week in Congress.

Under a broader measure known as the Real ID Act, federal agencies would be prohibited from accepting driver's licenses from Washington and nine other states that issue such licenses to illegal-immigrant residents.

The act's sponsor, House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said it is meant to disrupt terrorist travel. The provisions were part of the intelligence legislation introduced last year but were removed from the bill Congress adopted.

If passed, the measure would make it tougher for some immigrants fleeing persecution to obtain asylum in the United States and would speed up construction of the border-security fence separating Mexico and the United States near San Diego.

It also would leave Washington and the other nine states with a choice: stop issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants or have federal agencies reject everyone's licenses for ID.

Sensenbrenner's bill, with 150 co-sponsors — only one of them a Democrat — is scheduled for debate on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives tomorrow.

"It's a bad bill, and I hope it doesn't pass. It could have a huge consequence here in the state of Washington," said state Rep. Phyllis Gutierrez Kenney, D-Seattle. She said denying driver's licenses to illegal immigrants would "have an impact on our economy, particularly in Eastern Washington where you have many people working the farms and driving trucks."

Washington, Oregon and Montana are among the 10 states that allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. Washington licensing officials say it makes practical sense, so that illegal immigrants can purchase automobile insurance protecting themselves and other drivers.

Still, bills intended to change the law repeatedly have been introduced in the state Legislature — without passing.

In a prepared statement, Sensenbrenner said his idea is not to set policy for states. But "American citizens have the right to know who is in their country, that people are who they say they are, and that the name on the driver's license is the real holder's name, not some alias," he said.

The congressman pointed out that the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers chose "driver's licenses and state IDs as a form of identification because these documents allowed them to blend in and not raise suspicion or concern."

But U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Seattle, said the bill would not have stopped the hijackers. "It gets away from the real issue of security," he said. "Security is not about immigrant driver's licenses. It's about all the containers coming into our ports that are never checked. This is a law of unintended effects."

Immigrant-advocacy groups have condemned the provisions in Sensenbrenner's bill as mean-spirited and unnecessary.

The September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, made up of family members of those killed in the attacks, said the bill would "undermine, not enhance, national security by pushing people deeper into the shadows and forcing many more to drive without a license in order to earn a living."

But others see value in it.

While not commenting specifically on the bill, Jason King, spokesman for the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, whose members are state motor-vehicle departments nationwide, said, "We need more consistent practices from state to state in how we issue driver's licenses."

State Rep. Doug Ericksen, R-Bellingham, has sponsored a bill in the Washington Legislature that would require proof of U.S. citizenship before a driver's license could be issued. If the federal measure passes, he's prepared to introduce new legislation that would bring the state into compliance.

"I think it's a good idea," Ericksen said of Sensenbrenner's bill. But "here in Olympia, that would be dead on arrival," he said.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors stricter enforcement of immigration laws, said it's possible states could create a two-tier licensing system, granting illegal immigrants driver's licenses not intended for ID purposes.

"What needs to happen is increased enforcement of the conventional type, denying illegal aliens access to normal institutions of our society — bank accounts, car loans," he said. "Giving them driver's licenses of any kind represents a kind of de facto amnesty."

Lornet Turnbull: 206-464-2420 or lturnbull@seattletimes.com