ID Card for Workers Is at Center of Immigration Plan

[BadgerKid]

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.

...

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 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."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703954904575110124037066854.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsThird


Looks like they are bailing on making immigration safe and legal.

[Romulox]

1. More cheap labor = political cyanide right now. This is a non-starter. nt

[ljm2002]

2. Control freaks...

...too bad they don't make any efforts to control the flow of capital.

While the financiers and the big boys who run the multinationals have robbed us blind, have moved money to illegal tax havens, &c &c, they are dreaming up ways to have yet more control over individuals.

This is insanity.

[Gormy Cuss]

3. Social security cards are not IDs, Mr. Graham.

Nice way to propose a national ID card without using those words.

[SoCalDem]

4. There WILL be a national ID card.. rely on it..

It may not be in my lifetime, but eventually there will be one.. It's funny in a way too. We are all easily "identified" now, but all the plastic we carry, the licenses we have, the stuff we buy, the schools we attend, the job ID we have, the doctors we frequent, etc..

In order to access services, ID cards are necessary, and especially if we EVER hope to have a real national health care plan..

The rugged individualists/paranoid people/libertarians fear a national ID card, but will they also turn down health care, if asked to show their ID?

[Gormy Cuss]

5. You're old enough to remember when one could go through weeks at a time without ever showing an ID.

Funny how we got along just fine.

[SoCalDem]

6. That was then.,.this is now..

You're right..I DO remember those days, but as an Air Force Brat, I ALWAYS had to have my military ID on me to access "base-services", or to get back on-base, if I left it..so I understand about how IDs prevent unauthorized people from accessing services..

Unless we are willing to throw-open the doors and let anyone use services reserved for citizens, there will have to be ID cards..

Many people will not like it, but it's just a fact of life as we live it now...and into the future.

[Gormy Cuss]

7. It's only a "fact of life" if people put up with it, which is sadly what is happening.

Fear is a powerful motivation. Fear out of proportion to risk is still effective.

[SoCalDem]

8. It's still a personal choice in the end..

There will be people who opt-out, but they will not be able to access services..

"Membership" has privileges...

[Gormy Cuss]

9. It's a Hobson's choice.