Thread: NATIONAL I.D. CARD AND THE IMMIGRATION BILL

More Stories You Didn't See on FOX News Last Week
Reported by Marie Therese - June 17, 2007 - 8 comments

News Hounds Guest Blogger Bill Corcoran has let us all know just what important military news FOX managed to overlook last week. Now, it's time for a list of just a few of the other stories you didn't see covered by FOX News Channel's "hard-hitting, hard news" shows.

NATIONAL I.D. CARD AND THE IMMIGRATION BILL
Did you know that embedded in the 800 pages of the Immigration Bill is a requirement for a national workers' I.D. card? I didn't until I happened to catch a Chris Matthews segment on MSNBC. Here's what the ACLU has to say about it:

"The proposed legislation would require every job applicant in America to have their eligibility to work verified by the DHS, using the error-plagued Employment Eligibility Verification System (EEVS). EEVS creates a massive government database containing extraordinary amounts of personal information on everyone in America, tied to each individual’s Social Security number. If DHS makes a mistake in determining work eligibility, there will be virtually no way to challenge the error or recover lost wages due to the bill’s prohibitions on judicial review.

"As a part of EEVS, every person in America would be forced to carry a hardened Social Security card perhaps containing biometric information about the cardholder - essentially a national ID - and present a Real ID-compliant driver’s license to get any new job. The proposed legislation also expands current practice of expedited removal. The ACLU noted that these policies do nothing to solve the problems of illegal immigration and violate the fundamental American value of due process."

http://www.newshounds.us/2007/06/17/mor ... t_week.php

added to the homepage

http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=N ... e&sid=2277

new title

NATIONAL I.D. CARD AND THE IMMIGRATION BILL! Biometric Big Brother is watching!

It seems to me that this is mostly a necessary trade off.
Without a solid employment eligibility verification system, we can't end the lure of employment that brings these people across the border.

However, the government should contract out the database to a company such as Amazon or Google that has proven it can run a massive online enterprise with minimal errors and without being hacked.

I deal with the subject on my blog:

http://www.onillegalimmigration.blogspot.com/

I propose to deal with errors this way:

"This person is not in the database of persons legally authorized to work in the United States. Because there is a chance this result is in error due to a data entry problem, you may only employ this person provisionally, pending a manual recheck by the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. If upon manual recheck, the employee is proven to be unauthorized, that person shall be subject to arrest for violation of federal law."

This way, the federal government will only need to recheck those who insist that they should be in the database, and those who insist wrongly are subject to arrest, so by and large, only the innocent will insist."

Back in 1986, the Simpson-Mazollit Act came up with a "foolproof" way to insure that only legal residents could get a job. Since then all of us have had to show two forms of positive id in order to get a job. The idea was that illegal aliens couldn't get a passport, drivers license, or Social Security card. Oops! As it turns out the ids were easily forged and there was no enforcement of the law.

Why should we believe that a "National ID Card" would be any different? Any ID can be forged, documents can be faked, and when this fails IDs can be stolen. No law or security measure will work without enforcement of the law.

The subject of enforcement is key to any measure to curb or eliminate illegal immigration. So, who would be responsible to enforce the "National ID Card"? Federal agencies are not large enough to police a system with 300 million members. Local law enforcement agencies have already said that they will not enforce immigration law. What makes anyone believe that they will change their mind when suddenly we all have a new id card?

There is a separate agenda at work here to get us all on a national registry with an id card. Remember the aftermath of 911? It was proposed then that a "National ID Card" would make us all safer. This idea was later rejected by Congress as being unworkable. The idea didn't die there though.

The "National ID Card" was resurected as an idea to combat internet scams and cybercrime. The supporters don't mention how this would work.

The "National ID Card" comes up whenever there is a problem that involves the country as a whole. It has been proposed as a magic pill solution to dozens of societal problems. The supporters though never have any details on how the magic pill would solve the problems of the day.

So who are the people driving the "National ID Card" and why do they want it so bad? The answer to that is simple. Larry Elison, the billionaire founder and CEO of Oracle is the main supporter of the idea. He has spent millions promoting this idea and he has spent millions more on campaign contributions to members of Congress. He has any offered the database software to the US Government for free.

Why? What is in it for him? The answer to that question is simple. Money and power. Billions of dollars of money for free. You see if Oracle provides the software then Oracle can access it anytime they want. They will have at their disposal a national registry with the biometric and demographic data on eveyone in the country. Something like that would be very valuable indeed. That database could be "mined" for all sorts of information and then sold to the highest bidder.

If you think that you get too many spam emails now, wait until Larry Elison has your data. That database will have your name, age, race, national origin, address, employment history, occupation, and social security number. It would also include biometrics like, height, weight, blood group, fingerprints, and maybe even DNA and retina scan. The database would also show your spouses information, and your kids.

It has also been proposed that the "National Database" could be expanded to include banking records, payroll receipts, IRS info, and your personal account info. In short your physical and financial life would be in the database.

Think about it for a minute. Do you want your life's information available to every government agency? Your response is, well the government already has that informaton. That is true, the IRS has all of that informaiton but legal checks and balances prevent that info from being shared with the FBI, CIA, and local law enforcement, unless you are suspected of committing a felony. Even then there are safeguards. This database would be available and easily accessed by EVERY government agency at the touch of a button. Not only that but the software vendor will not doubt include some "back doors" to gain access for themselves.

The potental for abuse is huge and the rewards for abusing this information would be too great to resist. We're talking about trillions of dollars worth of information. Do you think that your politicians can resist such a temptation? I don't. Do you think that a software company with trillions of dollars worth of your information can be trusted? I don't. Do you think that anyone can be trusted with this kind of information? I don't.

Power corrupts and this database would be the ultimate in informational power.

Lunarminer, your statements lead to the conclusion that workplace enforcement is virtually impossible, which is not true. I am concerned that you want enforcement, but your position on verification of a person's right to work in the U.S. makes enforcement impossible.

I think you should the post on my blog. The privacy concerns for the system I propose are minimal because the only additional piece of information is your picture. I sent the proposal into Senator Jim Webb's Legislative Director several months ago.