Blog Post
Biometric ID Cards Will Lead to Discrimination and Harassment Against Immigrants
My esteemed and respected colleague, Patrick Young, Esq., in his March 10 blog post titled “Some Quick Thoughts On The Biometric ID,” raised several arguments for and against Senator Schumer’s plan to include a national biometric identification card in his comprehensive immigration reform bill. At the end of his post, Young invited others to make the case against such a system. I take this opportunity to do so.
The biometric worker ID card appears to be a key component of Sen. Chuck Schumer’s immigration reform bill. The card would apply to all workers, citizens and non-citizens alike. It would force everyone seeking a job in the United States – hundreds of millions of people – to obtain an ID card containing their photographs and biometric data, such as fingerprints or scans of the veins in their hands.
This system would hinder people’s ability to work, especially in a slow economy. Like other electronic worker verification programs (for example, Suffolk County’s E-verify pilot program), a federal worker ID card system inevitably will result in lost job opportunities and hiring delays due to technological glitches and database errors. Employers may continue employing immigrant workers off the books, leading to low wages and other labor abuses. Employers also may be reluctant to hire workers they perceive to be “foreign” in order to avoid hassles with the verification system.
Schumer’s plan would increase discrimination and harassment against documented immigrants and racial minorities. Failure to carry a card could provide police a reason to search, detain or even arrest people they suspect of being foreign. Immigrants, even those with legal status, and minorities will constantly have to prove their status at work or on the street. Similar programs giving employers or local police the authority to enforce federal immigration law, such as E-Verify, and 287(g) agreements, have led to widespread civil rights abuses.
This misguided plan could make it much more difficult for Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform. Since the 1930s, Americans from both sides of the political spectrum have opposed a national identification system as a violation pf privacy and liberty. President Reagan likened a 1981 proposal to create a national worker identification card to the biblical “mark of the beast,” and President Clinton dismissed a similar plan for “smacking of Big Brotherism.” Many Americans will oppose comprehensive immigration reform that includes national biometric identification card system. It likely would kill this important legislation.
Comprehensive immigration reform should protect and strengthen our rights and liberties. A national biometric identification system would do the opposite. It would expand the government’s authority over our lives.
Andrea Callan is the head of the Suffolk County branch of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Tags : biometric id, immigration reform, lindsey, schumer
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