These days and times make it unfortunately necessary for one to be able to identify one's self via an untamperable bio-metricmethod.
Identity thieves (who I believe should be executed upon discovery right in the store, or shortly thereafter) won't have such an easy time passing checks & stolen credit/debit cards, getting fake loans, purchasing in your name, etc.
Notification of foreigners here on visas that have expired should be part of the system, also the phoney ones too, with swift deportation awaiting the cheaters, who could also be criminals with ill intent.
As for the Illegals, they will be quickly be gone for failing ID checks for/at empolyment, bank accounts, check cashing, wire transfers, ER & free clinic, driving and other licenses, an array of social services, SSI benefits, so much more. Gone to then try to return via legal means.
"These days and times make it unfortunately necessary for one to be able to identify one's self via an untamperable bio-metricmethod."
The three reasons you give for that, ID theft, terrorism, and illegal use of fake ids, are all relatively rare, notwithstanding the constant blare of them on FR and in the MSM. Any prevention of those things by Real ID would be far outweighed by the daily inconvenience we will all be subjected to by arrogant clerks who cannot get our retina scans or fingerprints to line up and refuse us access to our bank accounts, rent-a-car, or flight, among other things. I would far rather the government focus on catching ID thieves (they do not, no matter how it is criminalized), focus on fake document makers for illegals and terrorists (they do not, no matter how it is criminalized, for stopping illegals in an intelligent fashion is evidently not Bush adminstration policy) and focus on stopping terrorists on the basis of their common, identifying characteristics (pssstt, I hear they're often Muslim and Arab!), instead of pressing Americans into numbers. Real ID is a joke, just as the TSA is, intended to fool Americans into accepting more intrusion under the guise of protection and security.
People like you have evidently been scared into forgetting Reagan's maxim: "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'"