The REAL ID Act of 2005: Summary and Analysis of Provisions

Section 101-Preventing Terrorists from Obtaining Asylum: This provision alters the standards and evidentiary burdens governing asylum applications and applications for withholding of removal. Specifically, this section:

Raises the standard for asylum and withholding eligibility and requires all applicants to prove that a "central reason" for their persecution was one of the enumerated grounds (race, religion, national origin, political opinion, or social group);
Allows judges to require credible asylum and withholding applicants to obtain corroborating evidence "unless the applicant does not have the evidence or cannot obtain the evidence without leaving the country" and effectively bars judicial reversal of determinations regarding the availability of corroborating evidence;
Authorizes credibility determinations to be based on demeanor or the consistency of an applicant's written or oral statements made at any time to any individual and whether or not under oath;
Bars any court from review of any discretionary judgments, decisions, or actions, regardless of whether made in the context of removal proceedings; and
Repeals the provision enacted in the intelligence reform legislation mandating a study of vulnerabilities in our asylum system.

Broadens the INA's definitions of "terrorist organization" and "engage in terrorist activity";
Expands the grounds of inadmissibility based on endorsement of or support for "terrorist organizations" or terror-related activity; and
Establishes a new ground of inadmissibility based on receipt of military-type training.

Endorse "terrorist activity," broadly defined as virtually any use of a weapon or threat to use a weapon against person or property.
Urge support for a "terrorist organization," even more broadly defined as any two or more people who have ever engaged in such activity.
Support or be a member of any "terrorist organization" even where the individual can prove that his activities did not further any terrorist activity whatsoever.

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