Passports are an internationally recognized form of identification (even standardized). Processes are far more streamlined when documents follow a normal recognizable pattern rather than your random birth certificate format.
His logic is completely flawed because if he were interested in "streamlining" access then they would only accept one document from all nationalities, a passport. New passports have electronic bar codes on them an can be "swiped" within seconds and ALL nations have agreed to the standard.
His logic of reviewing all alternatives is flawed? Interesting.
Bingo.