I tried arguing stating that he had accepted the DL of the passenger ahead of me. He reiterated that since I was from Canada I wasn't allowed to do so. While my DL doesn't state nationality, he knew from my province that I was indeed not American. According to him, I either produce my passport or not board the plane.

He was wrong on that point to, you can fly without even producing an ID. Most likely you would of been subjected to SSSS and additional screening.
Another one of those "do you want to fly today.." things.
Which airport did this happen at?

I'll admit I'm fairly naive in terms of my rights and I really didn't want to end up smacked down on the floor, so I shut up and pulled out my passport.

It was in DEN

Next time please ask for a supervisor, and from there, escalate to the Ground Security Coordinator of your airline - they can overrule the TSA and allow you to fly.

You shouldn't be naive about your rights - please take the time to educate yourself and don't be taken advantage of again.

21 of course

I think the term we're looking for here is, "Kickback."

What would have happened if you had driven into the United States, as for the moment we still don't need passports for this.

I fly domestically in the states from time to time. And I have a Maine driver's licence. So he wouldn't have known my citizenship either. . . it's all so silly. What does knowing one's citizenship have to do with valid ID, and what does ID have to do with security?

Last year my sister and I were flying SFO-JFK-SFO. Flying out of SFO she was able to use her NSW drivers license without problem, on the way back she was told at the check in counter at United that she was unable to use her NSW drivers license as a form of I.D. Unfortunately she did not have her Australian passport with her and was put through a SSS. I personally think they guy that checked her in had a bug up his .... I would love to know what the law states, although I doubt that she would try this again.

Just a note:

As many of you know, we (TSA) have started using the UV lights at basically all airports now. Along with that, we've received some training in acceptable documentation. They're still not clear on a lot of things, which I don't like, but here's what it seems to boil down to:

US Driver's License or State ID card
US Passport
US Federal Government ID card
Canadian drivers license (since passport is not required to travel over the border)
Foreign country passport (certain "suspect" countries could require additional screening)

We've been told not to accept foreign country's driver's licenses as a primary form of ID, mostly because of the vast number of them, and the difficulty of determining if it's valid, or the security of the process which goes into obtaining the ID.

Now, whether it should be our job to check IDs or not, is a discussion for a different thread, but currently we are and we're just doing our best to try and make sure we check for valid, secure IDs.

Thanks for posting.
Not by air--passports are required for air entry to/from Canada (although a Canadian could enter via land and then take a US domestic flight and not need a passport).

However, not every non-citizen who is traveling by air is traveling internationally. This is a ridiculous rule.

Also, I noticed that LPR (green) cards are not on this list. Is that just an oversight?
Yet another question: can you define "suspect" countries?

I don't have a US Driver's Liscence. Will a driver's license do?

That may be. But it is the simplest, most convenient, (theoretically) most secure form of ID that a non-citizen would be "guaranteed" to have with them.

Federal government issued ID card?

I strongly suspect that this is SSI information, so I'd rather not specifically define them (and possibly get into trouble). It's not a very large list, and the countries are fairly well known as being potential terrorism-sponsoring countries.

I have no idea what you are talking about

Why are they "guaranteed" to have their passport? The law requires them to have their entry card with them, but does not require the carrying of the passport.

Thus the quotes. While they are not "required" to have it with them, I don't think I've run across a traveller yet who didn't. And if they didn't, we all know that they'll still be able to fly, just go through the additional screening.

Well, yeah! Does the term "Green Card" ring any bells? And that question comes from a Federal "Officer" who supposedly has been trained in recognizing different Government issued IDs. Sheesh!