[Infowarrior] - ID Card for all Workers Is at Center of Immigration Plan

[Richard Forno]

MARCH 9, 2010
ID Card for Workers Is at Center of Immigration Plan
By LAURA MECKLER
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703954904575110124037066854.html
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," Mr. 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."

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."

U.S. employers now have the option of using an online system called E- 
Verify to check whether potential employees are in the U.S. legally.  
Many Republicans have pressed to make the system mandatory. But  
others, including Mr. Schumer, complain that the existing system is  
ineffective.

Last year, White House aides said they expected to push immigration  
legislation in 2010. But with health care and unemployment dominating  
his attention, the president has given little indication the issue is  
a priority.

Rather, Mr. Obama has said he wanted to see bipartisan support in  
Congress first. So far, Mr. Graham is the only Republican to voice  
interest publicly, and he wants at least one other GOP co-sponsor to  
launch the effort.

An immigration overhaul has long proven a complicated political task.  
The Latino community is pressing for action and will be angry if it is  
put off again. But many Americans oppose any measure that resembles  
amnesty for people who came here illegally.

Under the legislation envisioned by Messrs. Graham and Schumer, the  
estimated 10.8 million people living illegally in the U.S. would be  
offered a path to citizenship, though they would have to register, pay  
taxes, pay a fine and wait in line. A guest-worker program would let a  
set number of new foreigners come to the U.S. legally to work.

Most European countries require citizens and foreigners to carry ID  
cards. The U.K. had been a holdout, but in the early 2000s it  
considered national cards as a way to stop identify fraud, protect  
against terrorism and help stop illegal foreign workers. Amid worries  
about the cost and complaints that the cards infringe on personal  
privacy, the government said it would make them voluntary for British  
citizens. They are required for foreign workers and students, and so  
far about 130,000 cards have been issued.

Mr. Schumer first suggested a biometric-based employer-verification  
system last summer. Since then, the idea has gained currency and is  
now a centerpiece of the legislation being developed, aides said.

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.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce doesn't have a position on the proposal,  
but it is concerned that employers would find it expensive and  
complicated to properly check the biometrics.

Mr. Schumer said employers would be able to buy a scanner to check the  
IDs for as much as $800. Small employers, he said, could take their  
applicants to a government office to like the Department of Motor  
Vehicles and have their hands scanned there.

—Alistair MacDonald contributed to this article.
Write to Laura Meckler at laura.meckler at wsj.com