mr. speaker , i rise in strong support of this rule to provide for consideration of this counterterrorism bill of which i am an original cosponsor .  this is the real id act .  it closes , among other things , the 3-mile hole in the fortified u.s.-mexico border fence near san diego .  border security must be a pillar of our national security policy .  recent press accounts have reported that al qaeda operatives have joined forces with alien smuggling rings like ms-13 in order to enter the united states , particularly through our porous southern border .  this bill establishes strong security standards for the issuance of driver 's licenses that all states must comply with to eliminate weak links in identity security .  the nineteen 9/11 hijackers had 63 validly issued driver 's licenses and other forms of identification between them , and they were using these ids to move around the country undetected , plotting and planning .  in fact , eight of them were even registered to vote .  they then used the bogus licenses that they had to board u.s. planes .  h.r. 418 cracks down on asylum fraud by ensuring all terrorism-related grounds of inadmissibility are grounds for deportation .  the blind sheik , omar abdel rahman , who led a plot to bomb new york city landmarks , used an asylum application to avoid his deportation .  it is a fact that terrorists have continued to use and abuse asylum laws to stay in our country .  as the 9/11 commission found , abusing our asylum law is `` the primary method , '' in their words , used by terrorist aliens , like the 1993 world trade center bombers ramzi yousef and ahmad ajaj , to remain in the united states .  both , in the words of the 9/11 commission , `` concocted bogus political asylum stories when they arrived in the united states. '' so if we want to make it harder for terrorists like yousef and ajaj to abuse our asylum system , support this counterterrorism bill .  the ninth circuit created an extremely disturbing precedent that has made it easier for suspected terrorists to receive asylum .  the circuit has held that if a foreign government harasses an alien because he has been affiliated with a terrorist group , the alien is eligible for asylum because he could be persecuted on account of the political opinion of that terrorist group .  since members of terrorist organizations are eligible to receive asylum , under this doctrine an alien could receive asylum expressly because he was an admitted member of a terrorist organization .  the bill returns the law to its original understanding and overturns this ninth circuit precedent by requiring that asylum applicants establish that race , religion , nationality , membership in a particular social group , or political opinion was or will be a central reason for their claimed persecution .  these are commonsense changes to national security and to border security .  