Senate Amnesty Proposal to Include National ID Card

The mass amnesty bill beginning to take shape in the Senate will include a national biometric identification card required for all legal American workers, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The idea was floated around during Senate Immigration Subcommittee hearings last summer as a way of stopping the flow of illegal immigration while offering an amnesty for the illegal aliens already in the country.

According to the report, the ID card would be required for all American workers, including U.S. citizens, and address concerns raised in previous attempts at mass amnesty that attempts to stop illegal immigration didn’t go far enough. The proposed ID card would be embedded with an individual’s fingerprints to help protect against identity fraud.

“It’s the nub of solving the immigration dilemma politically speaking,” Senate Immigration Subcommittee Chair Chuck Schumer said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

Schumer said the ID card will prevent more illegal aliens coming to the United States looking for work.

“If you say they can’t get a job when they come here, you’ll stop it.”

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who is working with Sen. Schumer on a compromise, also favors the ID card, saying it just creates a “tamper-proof” Social Security card.

The ID card is already coming under fire from the Chamber of Commerce who believes the equipment necessary will be too costly for businesses and the ACLU who believes the card will infringe on an individual’s privacy.

The national implementation of a national ID card would also be a challenge. One of the recommendations from the 9-11Commission was to implement national standards for driver’s licenses, leading to Congress’ passage of the REAL ID Act. But five years after the bills passing, most states have failed to comply with the regulationsand several have refused to comply.

For more information, see the Wall Street Journal.