ID Card for Workers at Center of Immigration Plan
FOX News
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,” 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.”
Wild Thing’s comment……
Lindsey Gramnesty’s idea!
All I have to say is oh hell no. Does ANYONE believe this is really about immigration? Immigration is just an excuse for more government control over the people.
So what about this…haha Instead of keeping criminals out, let’s open the borders and treat everyone like a criminal.
Achtung, your papers please! SSNs tatooed on our arms, too?
If schumer and graham are involved this can’t be good for anybody.
This national ID card will take away the last of our rights. There will be nothing left along with Health Care and a national ID, they will have all our information on a terminal in Washington. We will have nothing to ourselves and no privacy. Health Care will take away our financial security and give that to the government upon demand, now a national ID will be the crwoning achievement of Socialism.
This National ID is just another means of controlling us. They are going to legalize the illegals anyway, so immigration is just an excuse. I wonder if Congress would again exempt themselves from this, or if they would have a special national ID like a get out of jail free card.
How long do you think it’s going to be before we will need to get a visa to travel from one state to another? Also, as Anonymous said “SSNs tatooed on our arms”.
I agree with all of you.
Long ago we heard that one day there might be this kind of thing. Where the heck were Schumer andGback then, NOT listening how it would be BAD for our country. That’s for sure.