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.
…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.”
…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.
{ 75 comments }
I can see what’s coming with posts like this (and similar ones that have run at LRC): some immigration restrictionists are proposing totalitarian horrors, therefore, libertarians should support open borders.
we’ve already got it. it’s called “TWIC”. it was also called “REAL”, but americans didn’t like those four letters. it will be reintroduced hundreds of times under many different names, but always the same technology.
Beefcake: The only person with any moral and lawful authority over a piece of property is its owner. No agent of any state can be a legitimate owner of any property, except in their capacity as an individual. You can take it from there.
Thanks, I would never have guessed that only the owner of property has justifiable claim over its disposal. Therefore we should have open borders, right?
To quote my favorite joke: “What you mean ‘we’, paleface?”
And if someone who happens to be a different nationality than you decides to buy the property next to yours, what are you going to do about it?
You missed the point of what he was saying. He was being sarcastic. The Native American Indians called whites pale face. He was making a sarcastic comment about how the Native American Indians were robbed of their land by white people and THEY are the only real Americans and whites IGNORED their borders.
@Beefcake
Oh contraire, when has the border ever been closed?
I was really hoping to finish graduate school before fleeing the US but this place is getting scary.
I am abhorred that I as a legally born citizen of the U.S. who is doing my job on a daily basis will have to get a Biometric I.D. card because a politician who isn’t doing their job can not control our border! How about the Immigration and Customs officers show up to illegal immigrant marches and rallies and start arresting people that are here illegally? We have an illegal march here in Seattle every year through downtown with more than 10,000 illegals participating and there has never been a single arrest. How about Immigration and Customs aggressively go after industries like farming and construction that actively seek out and employ illegal immigrants to pad their profit margins.
In China and it started out as an “ID” card. Then they tied it to citizens bank accounts adding ATM/Debit features to it; and now security to even move about their own cities. To even do something as simple as take public transportation they have to swipe the card proving they have the right to use it.
STOP MAKING LAWS TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR PEOPLE CHEATING THE SYSTEM AND HARDER FOR EVERYONE ELSE! Do they think that people here illegally are going to run right out and get a card? Just another way to tax us and add another department to our government.
THANK YOU!
H-E-L-L-O , can anyone say 666 !
I don’t think that the biometric ID card or even a national ID card is that scary. Most of the world has something like that. A national ID card would only be distributed to US citizens and the biometric ID card would eventually be a replacement of the Social Security Card. It is overdue and finding a way to deal with illegal workers means that we all ha have t do our part.
If we as citizen don’t do anything wrong, we should not be afraid. Only the ones that have something to hide are the ones that are screaming louder than all others and are not afraid to scare everyone else. We in the US are so afraid of nothing that it is becoming a religion to just be afraid!
Wake up and get real! We have to deal with illegal workers and illegal aliens. The biometric ID and National ID card is one step, the other is to start having immigration control over who is leaving the US. In all other countries in the world you have to go through immigration either entering or leaving. We only have immigration control who enters but no control over who leaves. Sometimes we would be able to catch bad guys on their way out and make sure that they won’t be back to hurt the US or anyone in the US.
Wake up zd14689. The immigrations service clears everyone that leaves the US, they just do it behind the scenes. Before you can get on the airplane either direction, you are cleared. If the airline does not receive clearance specific clearance, you are not allowed to board the aircraft. Other vessels entering or leaving US waters are required to clear both vessel and POB with customs and immigration. Try crossing a land border without going through a check point and having your name entered into the computer for a check.
Why would you think we should add more paperwork and more hassle than we already have. I travel internationally regularly and the US has a higher hassle factor than any other country I have ever visited (my current passport has 3 sets of extension pages inserted and still has 5 years before renewal).
The Nazi’s introduced national identity cards. If you do nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear. That didn’t exactly turn out to be factual, did it? If you think that the US government isn’t capable of atrocities of the same magnitude, your living in a dream world.
I have a social security card and a passport. I will not be guilty of having another government issued ID of any type.
jimmyt
As you do, I too travel extensively. In regard to clearing someone by the INS, I don’t think that you have the right perspective. The INS does not clear anyone leaving the US. The DHS just screens for possible terrorists being on an airplane, but no one looks for illegals. The I94′s are collected by the airlines and then stored at the airport and in many cases the INS never gets to even look at them. We are not adding to paperwork, we just would finally get to the point that the paperwork we have is being used in an effective way. I too so many have extensions in my passport (one year old and have to get a second one soon). So not only travel a lot. But no other country deals with so many illegals as we do in the US. Maybe it about time that you open your eyes when you travel. So please don’t mix apples with oranges in your rambling. INS and DHS are two different things and look for different type of people. The pages in your passport are filled with other countries stamps and hardly if any US ones. So don’t start on something you are so easily caught with your pants down.
Any government is capable of doing the wrong things, it is up to us voters to make sure that they are kept on the right track. And as to your Passport and Social Security Card, you forgot your Drivers License. The biometric ID would replace our social security card and not every US citizen has a passport. Having something better than a drivers license as identification that you are in fact a US citizen would just be something the US needs!
It is simple guys. While leaving a country we all pass passport control. Our passports match against multiple databases including bad-guys-lists. If you are not on a list you clear to go. All non-residents passport must match arrival record what is associated with visa. If there is no match or some other discrepancy most likely this passport will have hard time entering US next time. But in may countries passport can be replaced with easy. So people who violate visa can come again using new passport.
SKV
We don’t pass passport control. We pass a No Fly List and that is all. The airline are responsible to collect the I94 and turn it over to the INS. They then are supposed to have it checked against the arrival records. But it is not the reality. Reality is that I94′s are boxed and not looked at in most cases. Airlines lose I94′s or don’t even collect them. It is not the passport but the person it self that is screened. The passport is only a document identifying the person.
Why do we have to deal with “illegal aliens”? Just because they don’t have the state’s blessing to do so doesn’t mean they don’t have a right to live and work where they want.
Seattle
What part of illegal is so hard to understand. How come illegal is being treated today as something that is acceptable? Please go to Mexico and try to be an illegal there! I think they have their priorities right and we are wrong to think being illegal is OK! If we allow illegal to be acceptable, where will it stop? Will robbery, murder,and more be acceptable too? With opinions like that we are actually destroying the US. We are basically moving backwards!
Now I’m sure you’re trolling, but I’m bored so I’ll bite.
What’s so wrong with being an illegal?
Seattle
Your comment clearly shows what is wrong with the society in the US and how people like you are destroying our country. Today it is being illegal that becomes fashionable and acceptable. Tomorrow it is being a robber and the day after that a murderer. After that we will say it is ok for other countries to come and take our land away because they at least promise some type of discipline and order to their citizens.
Please tell me what is good about braking the law? Why do we have a law? And if being illegal, is ok, then please don’t start crying about terrorist being in the country illegally!
Illegal means that you knew you were breaking the law, that you are above the laws of this country, that once you step over the line it is easier for more and more transgressions. It keeps out people that will learn English, that follow the legal path otherwise your suggesting that we remove all immigration law and allow all who wish to come. I don’t think that will work for us as our welfare system is overburdened already. You have American’s who can not qualify for welfare because they are attempting and have some income. The illegals get everything available. The majority go to Walmart and send 90% of what they earned out of this country to home where their plan is to actually go back and be a big property owner in their own country. They never really view this as their home. They don’t want their kids to learn English because they plan on them returning to Mexico. The single males live in hot bunking households that ruins the houses because they were not designed for 30 to 40 people living in them. Because they are illegal we also make them available to predatory overseers within their own community. In my community they are the newest and baddest gang members. We have tried amnesty twice and it did not stop it, why don’t we bill Mexico for the services our government gives to it’s people, find them and drop them at the Mexican embassy and surround it with enforcement to see they don’t just turn them loose. I have empathy for these people, the misfortune of their birth in a country that is disintegrating. They are bringing their failures to America, we need successes. We have the law and we need enforcement of it.
This is an argument for abolishing welfare, not for increased border control.
to zd14789,
What part of illegal is so hard to understand(?)
You are asking the wrong question, so let me pose one to you. In your reasoned opinion, is it possible for a law to be unjust?
If the answer is yes, then clearly the legality of something cannot be used to judge its morality. If the answer is no, I’ll have some fun counterexamples for you later.
It is very possible for a law to be unjust. It used to be ILLEGAL to teach black people how to read in the united states. It was a crime that was punishable by death! Look it up.
There are some differences in the examples you make. Just because one thing was illegal and was unjust does not mean that everything else must be handled the same way. What about all those that have entered, are entering, or are trying to enter the US legally? You are promoting to brake the law ! We have a way for everyone to enter, live and work in the US legally. That is the issue at stake and you are basically telling all the other people that it is ok to brake the law and that you get rewarded for that. So if a terrorist comes to the US illegally and lives here, gets all the services that American Citizens and Legal Aliens don’t get and then hurt the US, that is ok in your opinion.
Why do we have laws if no one wants to follow them?
Scott
The answer is Yes. In the end we are not comparing legality with morality. Should the current law be immoral, than change the law! But change the law for everyone and not just for a certain group. That would be again immoral.
In the end the fact is, that there we are teaching immigrants to better be violating the laws of the USA. Where does it stop? We are the ones that are letting our laws been dismantled!
ZD – you’re actually quite incorrect when you say “We have a way for everyone to enter, live and work in the US legally.”
If you count marrying an elderly man looking for a servant – then yes you are correct, but for your average low-skilled worker bee – there is absolutely zero chance of coming to the US legally w/o some kind of family member here.
The answer is Yes.
Consider Sara’s example for a moment. What if it were still illegal to teach blacks to read, but some people set up secret schools to teach them? How would you feel about a new law that imposed some restriction or required some action on the part of non-blacks to try to prevent these schools from forming? Would you support the new law, since it was designed to help police illegal activity?
No, it’s not about race – that’s why you said “go back to Mexico”. I’ll make a broad generalization and say about 40% of the anti-immigrant zealots are completely 100% racist.
Al in SoCal
Please go to the border in San Diego. There are hundred of workers that cross the border with a special work permit. How did they get it?
And my suggestion is to create a special visa for such workers. Give them 9 month to work here in the US and then they have to go home for three month before they can come back again to work. Employers have to file the application for their work permit and are responsible for them to leave again!
In the end it is about teaching to do the right thing and not to violate laws!!!!!
“If we as citizen don’t do anything wrong, we should not be afraid. Only the ones that have something to hide are the ones that are screaming louder than all others and are not afraid to scare everyone else.”
aka…
If we as Jews, Armenians, Rwandans, Bosnians, and Sudanese don’t do anything wrong, we should not be afraid.
Only the ones that have something to hide are the ones that will die of genocide…
James
You are mixing issues into this discussion that have nothing to do with the topic. We are talking about the US and I don’t think that we are having genocide issues in the US> We are not talking about the rest of the world!
I can not agree more with Mr. zd14689. With a “bullet proof” national I D card, no more identity
theft, no more illegal workers, everyone gets to pay their taxes and I don’t pay for someone that didn’t pay theirs. End voter fraud, I can see that Acorn will be against this one. The Government knows where I live, they know what I do and maybe this would help them know a little more about some other people, like the sex offenders in California that no one can keep tract of. If giving all of my “private” info like blood type, which is on my drivers license to the government and it prevented just one sex offender from acting out his dastardly deed, it would be well worth it.
Miles B. , Tijuana, Mexico
Miles Beacon
You must be retarded. Flat out. The whole issue is the Government is taking more and more away from us. It is called our civil liberties. I know first hand of this, I served two tours in Iraq back in 03-04. I fought for my country and its freedoms. I go to 6th st in Austin, Texas to find out smoking is banned. Hmmmm now im one pissed off Vet!. How many more forms of control are they going to emplace before everyone get the picture? NOBAMA is my policy. the mark of the beast is what is going to be taking place here. It will start with “info like blood type” and blow up from there. have a few beers puss maybe you will get it then when ur not all fogged up in your own retarded thoughts>
Countries w/ national ID cards don’t have multiple other governmental agencies that require cards and don’t pay taxes to multiple different government agencies. I have a WA state drivers licencse, Social Security Card, my professional license, and now this? Seriously when does the redundancy stop? How many cards do I need? How many different governmental agencies do I need to pay taxes to, to provide me with another card that says who I am once again. They should get rid of all the other crap and go with a single card. A single licensing/ID card if you will then we could all be all for it because ti would reduce costs.
Tim
I have to agree with you on the point that we have to many cards for the wrong reason. But please look at the reasons why we need some cards:
Passport – Needed because it is the legal document accepted by all countries recognizing the country you are a citizen of.
Drivers License – Needed to show that you are entitled to operate a vehicle. Does not establish right to live in a country, citizenship or any thing else other than that you are allowed to drive a certain type of vehicle.
Social Security Card – Not needed – the only thing on that card is the Social Security Number that shows an employer how to file and pay taxes for you and for you to be able to accumulate benefits.
National ID – Establishes that you are citizen, you have the right to vote, you have a domestically recognized ID.
All over the sudden our Social Security Number is not the deciding factor if you want to buy something etc. A national ID is and every one that is not a citizen will have to show their Green Card (National ID for legal Aliens) to be able to do the same thing, with the exception to vote.
Nothing new in this although we now carry many forms of ID. What’s going to change with adding another? National ID’s started back in the Carter administration which approved converting your SS number to your official USA identification number – now issued at birth to everybody. Closer in the Bush Administration got the bright idea of copying the AVID system for pets which involves injecting a RFID chip and proposed legislation to have all USA citizens injected with a RFID chip so they can be tracked. Even Congress could not swallow that so they compromised and now we all are getting new State Drivers License / State ID cards with RFID chips in them. You will get yours at your next renewal. Stores and commercial operations will be able to identify you as you enter their establishments using scanners. It is also envisioned that police and other law enforcement will be able to wave a “scanner” paddle or other device next to you and be able to access all your ID and historical information that is stored in the various national data banks.
It is here already folks and being implemented, so the only question is why add another “card” when there are already plenty of ID cards/devices in use?
The answer is – make the politician look like they are doing something. Enforcing employers to scan illegals will never work as too much of the infrastructure of the US economy relies on the illegals to work at substandard wages.
Osiris
We should start looking at the Swiss system of temporary work visas for guest workers. I agree with you that the US is dependent on low wage labor. The Swiss are too. Their system is that you get a work visa for 10 month and then have to leave the country for three month and then can come back for another round of 10 month. After that you have to leave for about a year and then it can start again. With something like that we could still depend on the workers to do the low wage jobs but give them some boundaries as well as the employers, since they have to apply for those visas. At least we then get a system that can be managed and not what we have today.
As someone that has lived and worked in Geneva for a few years I can tell you that is not how it works, but please continue your fantasie…
Francois
I lived in Switzerland too (25 years ago) and I had to go through this.
I must say I am quite unimpressed with most of the blasé comments and docile responses to this post of new Orwellian news.
I would think and hope that students and scholars of Boetie, Bastiat, Molinari, Menger, Bohm-Bawerk, Mises, Hayek, Kirzner, and Rothbard would have had more of a clue about the dire economic and political implications of such a policy prescription…
Not to mention an understanding of recent history.
Justin – How many students and scholars of Boetie, Bastiat, Molinari, Menger, Bohm-Bawerk, Mises, Hayek, Kirzner and Rothbard do you think exist in the United States? Most Americans don’t know what holiday is celebrated on July 4th, who the current Secretary of State is, or what is contained in the US Constitution or the Bill of Rights. The public school system has been very successful in making sure that people know very little about how the government is supposed to work. I would guess that the only people reading the works of these philosophers are those who are taking away our liberties on a daily basis. It is quite scary to see how people are totally unconcerned about losing of their freedoms for a little safety. As long as they can play Farmville, watch American Idol and eat fast food, they are happy.
“My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.” ~ Thomas Jefferson
This is the first step to a cashless economy. First it will be your work ID. Then it will be tied to your bank account. Then you will be encouraged to use it to pay your bills, buy your groceries, etc. using your worker ID card. Then you will be told that it is too expensive to print bills and mint coins, so physical money is being phased out. Everything will be paid using your national ID card. Oh, and as a plus, it will going completely electronic financially will finally almost completely do away with the illegal workers.As a small side effect of this, the government will be able to track every single thing you do, everywhere you go, and control where you go by only allowing your card to work in certain defined areas if they wish to. Yes, this is definitely the first step that could lead to a Big Brother every bit as bad Orwell imagined.
Anyone who thinks this is a fantasy is completely wrong and the technology to do exactly what Bert is describing exists today.
having been born and raised in the Seattle area and having lived from coast to coast including Alaska and also Cuba, I can say the attitude of Seattle is loonytune which isn,t unusual for Seattlites. Too often higher education leads one to being just an educated fool, just empty clouds floating by. Illegal is illegal and should be dealt as such. If I drive Illegally I pay the price. When people are here illegally and obviously so they should be arrested and sent back to country of origin
and how about fining the government of origin for allowing them to come.Allowing them to attend schools including free or low cost higher education is outrageous as is the free healthcare they enjoy when our own citizens get no such advantage. I think anyone who advocates this situation should step up to the plate and take on the responsibility of at least one illegal individual or family, as the case may be. To allow demonstrations, parades, etc..of illegals is flagrant in your face breaking the law and is of the greatest arrogance and is mouth dropping astonishing to see it happen without consequence. Our entire government system is in danger of falling because of this and other such issues that are dishonest and doublespeak. And as to this new biometric card, it is simply a more effective way to track the whereabouts and activities of the citizens. Unfortunately we will not be able to stop it. We were to busy for to long with our entertainments and weren,t paying attention to what was going on. I have a wood stove and if I am not aware of the burning rate and wood level it will get too low and I have to start it all over again.
These parades take place in multiple cities across the U.S. annually and no one whose job it is does anything about it except issue them a parade permit.
throw a frog in a pot of boiling water and he will jump out. put a frog in a pot of water and bring it to boil and he won’t notice the change.
It bothered me when I had to put my fingerprints along with my drivers license several years ago.
Now a chip is put along with it. Why should my activities or wherabouts be anyone elses business? I’m a legal citizen who goes to work each day. This is an infrigement of my rights as a citizen of the U.S.
This is along the same lines as gun control when they say having guns is causing the problems. No it’s the people who use the guns. If a person is going to do rob a bank with a gun do you think he’s not going to find a way to have a gun illegally when we all are turning ours in? He’s already breaking the law. The same with illegal aliens…they have already found a way to beat the system. I live in Galveston,Texas and have to go into Houston several times a month. Hundreds of them are lined up on the side of the roads wanting to be picked up for a days work that they don’t pay taxes on.
They recieve medical care and education that we, the tax pay for.
If they don’t report being here now what in God’s name makes anyone think we are going to be able to track them down to carry an I.D
Oh and by the way, Just for an example, I was in a car accident not too long ago. The driver who was suppose to carry a license and insurance didn’t have either. He tolds the wrecker he would sell him his vehicle for 200.00. Then he told the policeman he really did have the driver’s license and isurance but forgot them. All he was issued was a ticket (of which he didn’t pay) and told to go on his way.
And people think we are going to make them carry an I.D.?
WAKE UP! The only way it’s going to stop is if we the American people tell the officials we vote for that unless they do something they are out of office at the next election. Oh yeah, and this crap about not having to show a driver’s license when you vote to prove you live here needs to be corrected to.
That’s how all these laws are getting passed, the illegals are able to vote the ones in that go for all this.
No new national I.D. card.
As for all the comments that rage back and forth between those commenting – its like blogs – little bits of spitballs like kids used to throw in class. Not up to the snuff of the Christian Science Monitor.
They remind me of the Salt Lake Tribune and the words lobbed back on forth that call the others who comment different names. Raise the level of comments and think things through. This should not be a trash page, but good, careful thought should be expressed here.
Agreed! Great comments, but inevitably it turns into blasting one side and waiting for retaliation.
I cannot believe anyont thinks this is a good idea. I do not trust our goverment. It is an invasion of our personal privacy. Just because many of the places in the world have a national id card does not mean that is a good idea. It is an attempt to monitor the citzenary of this country and control them. We are rapidly moving with Obama to a Marxist or ObaMao society. There will be riots in this country before it is over and Obama will have set us against each other.
Michael
I think you are the one that is living in a world of denial. What is an invasion of your privacy? We already have sort of a kind National ID Card. You can’t do anything without using it. You can’t go to a doctor, get insurance, open an account, subscribe for cable TV etc., etc., etc. It is our Social Security Card. Just that it is so easy to fake that one and that it is defeating the purpose it originally was created for. You accept the one but will not accept something better because it has a different name. OK then just lets call it an improved Social Security Card!
If you as an American can’t understand democracy, then you should go back to school. We are not moving to a as you call it Marxist or ObaMao society. It sounds like that you can only accept someone in the red (Republican) area but not accept anything else. Stop whining and start doing what America stands for. Finding a solution that is best for our country. Do you think that our founding fathers would have displayed the same attitude that you are displaying now, we ever would have become the United States of America? I don’t think so. They at least had common scene, something that most Americans today lack off!
ZD,
It’s laughable to think your ideas would be ok with the founders of this great country. They could never have even dreamed about the government intrusion into our lives, and the thought of a Federal ID card we might as well through any semblance of privacy out the window.
While it’s true we’ve allowed the SSN to become a de facto ID, the only reason we have them is because it was promised it would never be used for identification purposes. That was a big mistake in my opinion.
Al in SoCal
The founding Fathers had the common sense to look realistically at the problems they faced and came to a common ground solution what is best for the new country. Today we are not looking at any common ground solutions and especially what is best for the country. We are looking at what is best to one group or another and what is best for a few.
Give the founding fathers the same problems we are facing today and they would have most probably asked for a National ID and other things you are against. They had common sense to what is good for the country and its citizens. Allowing being illegal to become appropriate, you are in fact dismantling what the founding fathers established!
Who cares if illegals enter the country. They are the only ones who will do the work that “fat-ass” Americans won’t.
So you are also saying who cares for other people barking the law. It is ok if someone robs, kills, or does other things that are against the law. You are promoting a country without laws where every one can do what he or she wants. You are also ok for Terrorists to be illegally in the US and harm our country!
Are you really putting someone who crosses the border for a job in the same boat with a murderer? Within those that are here illegally there are worse criminals – JUST like the population in general, but for the vast majority they come here for one reason – a better life for themselves and / or their families.
Al in SoCal
Yes I do put illegal with illegal! Let me put it more simple for you, a person that drives over the speed limit regardless of 5mph or 15mph is driving over the speed limit. By allowing illegals to cross the border for one reason will allow others to cross the border for another reason. Where do you start to differentiate between illegal and illegal? When did illegal become an accepted good part?
If they want to better their life then let them do it the proper way like millions of others before, and will – apply for a visa, work permit, green card! That is according to our laws the only legal way how you can work in the USA!!!!!
It is not the duty or responsibility of those who oppose their privacy rights being violated by a biometric ID card (that would/could contain all personal information and could be accessed by any and all governmental authorities) to prove that it isn’t necessary or a legitimate option, the onus is on those who propose such a card to prove that it is the only option, absolutely necessary, and that the benefits far outweigh the price of sacrificing one’s privacy rights.
its only a matter of time before we all have chip implants and thought police knock on our door when we visit the wrong website….. only a matter of time…. .
people love being told what to do and not having to think, and so they will end up like prisoners in giant prison economy….
people get what they deserve
If you read the Bible it states that at the end days everyone will be either marked or unmarked by satan, and in todays technology age, it will be either like a barcode or implant, and with this biometric id it is the way of being marked, btw being marked means you won’t be saved, it starts out being for immigration but it will go to all Americans, and then the world. It is also a way for our current totalitariate government to further control our lives.
Another chip at our right to privacy, this comes from a country that has cameras in all areas of the city, which doesn’t stop crime or terrorists. A country that the Israelis copied there passports. Just Say No, this comes from a country that wants to chip all pets, we humans are next, I think we needed to take page from our European neighbors and call a nation wide strike. If we do not standup for our rights how do we expect our leaders to respect them
Read more: A Biometric ID Card for all American Workers? — Mises Economics Blog http://blog.mises.org/12113/a-biometric-id-card-for-all-american-workers/#ixzz0hoiSlDq0
.
Listen people. Just because a law is in place does not mean that it is a just or moral law. It used to be illegal to teach black people to read. It was a crime that was punishable by death. It was the law of the land. Can’t you see that immigrants just want to work? This country was built on immigration. The land was taken from the native American Indians. All of us are the products of immigration of some sort. Biometric IDs are an extreme answer that will not solve the problem.
Wow – a sane voice in the sea of “send them home” – or worse.
Let’s also remember that MOST immigration bills since the conception of the USA has been racist. Yes – racist. The Chinese exclusion act, limits on Italians, etc – always race based – always designed to keep whichever race is disliked at the moment out.
See for yourself:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_immigration_legislation
There are legal ways to get into the country.
I must say :americans hate mexicans because they are smart to find the way how to cross the borders , live here , have many jobs ..and of course they get it and makes them look likes idiots.Second.There are many many ilegal people who the only reason they are here or they live illegaly in this country its because they can have a better life here than their countries and they live here without doing any bad to anyone if so .We must remenber a large number of crazy american people like the one who kill people on schoolls.or those people who lives from selling drugs. We know that many americans doesnt wana do the jobs that these people do. So i dont understand why illegak people are taking their jobs..We must be scared if these people would be a menace in other kinds of things…no simple jobs .What do you think>
Carlos,
Illegal is still illegal. Do you think Mexico would give illegals the same right that the US does. I don’t think so. illegals are thrown into jail because the brake the law. How come you respect the laws of Mexico but not the US?
If Mexicans want to live and work in the US, then let them apply for a visa to do so and not brake the law. That should be the issue you should press for and educate the people in Mexico to do, become a legal worker in the US!
Some say your either a cop or a criminal, some have broken the law & are rehabilitated & are now legit but that doesn’t matter because those who have not (?) broken the law don’t recognize these people have ‘done their time’ & forever hold whatever against them. Now this ‘Card’ is this the beginning of the “Beasts Mark’? So many whether they want to be or not are already marked. So it seems that even if this beast marks us there will always be some contrary to the beast whether we all are marked or not. Though the Bible says there will be total unification, proves the Lord is right, He’s never wrong. Learn. Be Ready. Believe. Thank You.
The scariest phrase in America today crops up more and more:
“If we as citizen don’t do anything wrong, we should not be afraid.”
No actually we should be very afraid of people like so willing to give up any last remnants of privacy and anonymity because of (gasp) “the illegals”. The Constitution, yeah that thing, is specifically designed to disallow any ‘filtering’ of citizens w/o probable cause. With the ID card and the anti-immigrant fanatics I’m have an easy time envisioning military / ICE checkpoints to do everyday tasks.
The militarization of America continues because of people filled with fear.
With the ID card and the anti-immigrant fanatics I’m have an easy time envisioning military / ICE checkpoints to do everyday tasks.
With the “drug war” I don’t have to expend much effort to see military-style actions and checkpoints on the street in front of my house.
Ole George Orwell must be a rolling over in his grave on this one. )^_^)
SO!… we all need to carry an i.d. card on us – but suspected criminals of illegal entry must never be approached for such things… is it just my eyes or does this picture look a bit slanted?
Great post!
An id like this have a lot of flaws especially with the rise of identity related crimes, a single id containing so much information just to utilize illegal workers and immigrants.
They should strengthen law enforcement measures instead.
In the very near future, one will see biometrics everywhere, it’s already in schools, gyms, banks, higher end corporate jobs, even industrial construction sites to confirm access the the appropriate contractors; never-mind the current airport security etc, and drivers licenses in most areas of North America already have facial recognition built into the picture.
In terms of “treating ordinary Americans like criminals” it’s already happening in Costco and the “bouncers” ahem I mean greeters at Walmart (and most electronics stores) who check your receipt on the way out. No?
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