Saturday, March 20, 2010

Schumer and Graham on Immigration Reform: Why Not Do it Without the Biometric National ID?

Schumer and Graham on Immigration Reform: Why Not Do it Without the Biometric National ID? CATO Weblog

There is much to commend in the op-ed on immigration reform that Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) published in this morning’s Washington Post. Unfortunately, they lead with their worst idea: a biometric national ID card, mandatory for all American workers.

Here’s the good: “Americans overwhelmingly oppose illegal immigration and support legal immigration,” they say. “Throughout our history, immigrants have contributed to making this country more vibrant and economically dynamic.”

Their plan includes problem-solving proposals: “creating a process for admitting temporary workers” and “implementing a tough but fair path to legalization.” The latter would reduce the population of illegal aliens in the U.S.—good—and the former would reduce the need to enter illegally in the first place—also good.

Joined with the enhanced border security they propose, these ideas would address the immigration challenge as well as anyone knows how. (Details matter, and my colleagues will have more to say, I’m sure.)

But then there is their gratuitous national ID proposal for all American workers, and stepped up interior enforcement. “Interior enforcement” is a euphemism for “rounding up illegal workers” under some administrations and “raiding employers” under others.

This is the most specific Senator Schumer has ever been about his biometric national ID proposal, though he’s had it in mind since at least 2007. But it is hardly satisfactory, and the claim there will be no national ID database is almost certainly not true.

Read the rest here.



Comment: Once again we sit here on the merry-go-round called the US Senate where we go round and round on an issue that we the people do not want and the clowns in the Senate are going to pass anyway. Would someone please tell me where is the overwhelming consensus for a national ID card? There is none. Not only is there no consensus, most US Citizens understand that this is a police state measure to track us, the group who are here legally, rather than the illegal group of 20 million.

3 comments:

danq said...

Don't underestimate public support for such a thing. When I was in my last year of college (2006) everyone younger than me wanted mandatory national service.

放棄 said...
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Brian said...

danq;

I don't doubt fifty plus years of government education has produced several generations of statists, but I am hopeful for the young folks who have found freedom and liberty through Ron Paul will win the day.