Thread: ID Card for Workers Is at Center of Immigration Plan

As if you need any more motivation to start calling, faxing etc. NOW.
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Wall Street Journal
MARCH 9, 2010
ID Card for Workers Is at Center of Immigration Plan
By LAURA MECKLER

Lawmakers working to craft a new comprehensive immigration bill have settled on a way to prevent employers from hiring illegal immigrants: a national biometric identification card all American workers would eventually be required to obtain.

Under the potentially controversial plan still taking shape in the Senate, all legal U.S. workers, including citizens and immigrants, would be issued an ID card with embedded information, such as fingerprints, to tie the card to the worker.

The ID card plan is one of several steps advocates of an immigration overhaul are taking to address concerns that have defeated similar bills in the past.

The uphill effort to pass a bill is being led by Sens. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) and Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), who plan to meet with President Barack Obama as soon as this week to update him on their work. An administration official said the White House had no position on the biometric card.

"It's the nub of solving the immigration dilemma politically speaking," Mr. Schumer said in an interview. The card, he said, would directly answer concerns that after legislation is signed, another wave of illegal immigrants would arrive. "If you say they can't get a job when they come here, you'll stop it."

The biggest objections to the biometric cards may come from privacy advocates, who fear they would become de facto national ID cards that enable the government to track citizens.

"It is fundamentally a massive invasion of people's privacy," said Chris Calabrese, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. "We're not only talking about fingerprinting every American, treating ordinary Americans like criminals in order to work. We're also talking about a card that would quickly spread from work to voting to travel to pretty much every aspect of American life that requires identification."

Mr. Graham says he respects those concerns but disagrees. "We've all got Social Security cards," he said. "They're just easily tampered with. Make them tamper-proof. That's all I'm saying."

U.S. employers now have the option of using an online system called E-Verify to check whether potential employees are in the U.S. legally. Many Republicans have pressed to make the system mandatory. But others, including Mr. Schumer, complain that the existing system is ineffective.

Last year, White House aides said they expected to push immigration legislation in 2010. But with health care and unemployment dominating his attention, the president has given little indication the issue is a priority.

Rather, Mr. Obama has said he wanted to see bipartisan support in Congress first. So far, Mr. Graham is the only Republican to voice interest publicly, and he wants at least one other GOP co-sponsor to launch the effort.

An immigration overhaul has long proven a complicated political task. The Latino community is pressing for action and will be angry if it is put off again. But many Americans oppose any measure that resembles amnesty for people who came here illegally.

Under the legislation envisioned by Messrs. Graham and Schumer, the estimated 10.8 million people living illegally in the U.S. would be offered a path to citizenship, though they would have to register, pay taxes, pay a fine and wait in line. A guest-worker program would let a set number of new foreigners come to the U.S. legally to work.

Most European countries require citizens and foreigners to carry ID cards. The U.K. had been a holdout, but in the early 2000s it considered national cards as a way to stop identify fraud, protect against terrorism and help stop illegal foreign workers. Amid worries about the cost and complaints that the cards infringe on personal privacy, the government said it would make them voluntary for British citizens. They are required for foreign workers and students, and so far about 130,000 cards have been issued.

Mr. Schumer first suggested a biometric-based employer-verification system last summer. Since then, the idea has gained currency and is now a centerpiece of the legislation being developed, aides said.

A person familiar with the legislative planning said the biometric data would likely be either fingerprints or a scan of the veins in the top of the hand. It would be required of all workers, including teenagers, but would be phased in, with current workers needing to obtain the card only when they next changed jobs, the person said.

The card requirement also would be phased in among employers, beginning with industries that typically rely on illegal-immigrant labor.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce doesn't have a position on the proposal, but it is concerned that employers would find it expensive and complicated to properly check the biometrics.

Mr. Schumer said employers would be able to buy a scanner to check the IDs for as much as $800. Small employers, he said, could take their applicants to a government office to like the Department of Motor Vehicles and have their hands scanned there.

—Alistair MacDonald contributed to this article.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... _US_News_5

You will all be tracked with your new North American Union ID's

W

It is the same problem with E-verify as when Ted Kennedy called for E-verify while also calling for exemption for millions of illegal aliens. Maybe we should have an ID card but it should be used against the people who have already violated us too not exempt them.

new title

Beast In The Amnesty Bill: National Biometric ID for All Americans

ALIPAC NOTE: We expect these ID's to be eventually made mandatory for all American, Canadian, and Mexican citizens. We also expect them to contain tracking technologies such as Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) which allows you to be tracked by cameras attached to scanning computers. Speak out now against Amnesty and against Big Brother ID for all Americans!

added to the homepage

http://www.alipac.us/article4997.html

E-verify has already been proven to be only half effectivre due to identity fraud and lack of biometric controls and cross referencing opposed by privacy advocates. What do you expect us to do give up enforcement?

Legal immigrants, lawful residents and Americans already have ID.

Enforce the law and we wont need big brother biometrics. Go after the people who don't have ID or are using another person's ID. They are easy to find, just do it!!!!!!!! Use Social Security, IRS and the credit card companies and banks we just bailed out to weed all the illegal aliens out of here. Too bad they didn't use the Census that we have footed the bill for to zero in on high populations of illegal aliens.

Dixie

Personally I believe that Biometric ID for everyone in the US is the way to go. It will be much easier to ferret out illegals and deny them employment and services with a biometric ID.

Personally I don't consider it a violation of my privacy and I really think that we should move to biometric ID right away.

I think Biometric IDs are great for National Security and I wish they would implement them without getting them mixed up in CIR -. Biomentric IDs should be a stand along bill and be passed this year.

This is the beast making it's move ... we will fight this till the end; go ahead liberals.. go get the mark of the beast

Who really believes in their heart of hearts the Federal Government wants to ferret out the Illegal Aliens... Nope, this is a far bigger agenda and you will regret the day this is passed

Perhaps arm bands sewn to the sleeves? Just a thought.

There is no way that any God fearing American that values privacy or freedom should submit to being tracked via national biometric ID.

There's only room for one omnipresence in my life and it is not a position for Chertoff, Napolitano, or what other troll like dictator that comes next.

Anyone that would give this kind of massive and historic power increase to our current government is a fool.

W