AUGUSTA – The only state that failed to get an extension to Monday’s Real ID deadline was given a couple of more days to satisfy federal concerns about driver’s license security.

Still unanswered was whether Maine residents will be allowed to board airplanes and enter some federal facilities using only their state-issued driver’s licenses as of May 11.

The Homeland Security Department set a new deadline of 5 p.m. Wednesday to give the state more time to show it’s making progress toward meeting Real ID guidelines, including a requirement that the state cease issuing licenses to illegal aliens.

Other provisions include checking applicants’ legal status with DHS, ensuring that driver’s licenses issued to non-citizens expire at the same time as their visas, and photographing all applicants when start the application process for a driver’ license. It said the state should use technology to prevent applicants from getting multiple licenses under multiple names.

DHS also said in a letter to Baldacci that measures that must be authorized by the Legislature should be addressed no later than Dec. 15, 2008, and those that can be taken care of by executive order should take effect within 60 days.

“The state will have to take steps to ensure that individuals are not granted driver’s licenses if they are not legally in our country,” U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, ranking Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, said in a statement. “I will continue to press for federal funding to help the state make these common-sense changes.”

A spokesman for Maine Gov. John Baldacci, David Farmer, said the Democratic governor would not respond Monday night but “his goal is to meet their demands the best (the state) can.”

Earlier in the day, Homeland Security granted an extension to South Carolina to comply with the Real ID anti-terrorism law. Like South Carolina and a few other states, Maine has a law forbidding compliance with Real ID.

The letter from Stewart Baker, DHS assistant secretary for policy, to Baldacci noted that other states with laws barring compliance with Real ID have been given extensions by demonstrating they intend to meet the requirements of Real ID “for their own reasons and technically not in order to implement federal law.”

Maine officials raised concerns about the cost of the federal law, called it an unfunded mandate, and said it has a potential to weaken privacy protections. But federal officials expressed their own concerns over Maine’s policies that have allowed illegal aliens to get licenses.

Federal officials have prosecuted two cases in which people with no ties to the state were transporting illegal aliens to Maine to get drivers licenses, according to U.S. Attorney Paula Silsby.

Maine’s licensing policies also have been at issue in the Legislature, which has taken up bills seeking a residency requirement for license recipients. The issue remains unresolved.

Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, who is Maine’s top license administrator, has said that federal credentials such as passports, passport cards and military IDs will be sufficient identification until Real ID is fully implemented.

U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, was also trying to broker a waiver agreement between Maine and DHS in order to forestall sanctions against Maine travelers, a spokesman said.

Critics of the federal policy have said that Maine is being given a tougher go-around in its waiver request than some states that have been given extensions with no promise to comply.

“What’s most important is that Maine’s request be given the same consideration as those of other states which have expressed opposition to Real ID but have been granted an extension, so that Mainers are not unfairly burdened beginning in May,” Snowe said in a statement.