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Some Quick Thoughts On The Biometric ID

Posted March 10, 2010 by Patrick Young, Esq.
Categories: Federal Immigration Policy

Yesterday the news media was all abuzz with talk of the inclusion of a biometric identification card as the “centerpiece” of the Schumer immigration reform bill. A friend in the immigrant rights movement called me to tell me we had to fight this assault on the rights of immigrants. I told her to take time out to breathe, and then re-think what she had just said. I reminded her that every permanent resident, everyone here on an H-1B visa, every Haitian applying for TPS has to have a biometric ID to prove his or her immigration status. What Schumer is looking at requiring is having everyone else, i.e. U.S. citizens, get the same sort of ID if they want to work. So, far from being a form of discrimination against immigrants, the universal worker ID would put everyone on a level playing field.

And let’s remember that there is already a governmental ID requirement for American citizens to work. Young people don’t know this, but 25 years ago you were not legally required to show a photo ID or Social Security card to get a job. Now you have to provide your employer with a governmental ID, usually a driver’s license, and proof that you are eligible to work (Social Security Card, birth certificate, etc.). This requirement was brought in by the passage of employer sanctions in 1986.

So the ID requirement for U.S. citizens is already there for new hires. But, the problem with the law from the enforcement perspective is that birth certificates and Social Security cards have been forged fairly easily in the past. As long as U.S. citizens don’t have to have a secure ID similar to that carried by legal immigrants, a huge loophole exists for the counterfeiting of documents.

Next, I reminded my friend that the term “biometric” card is a bit of scifi language which conjured up DNA testing and iris scans. In fact, current immigration biometrics consists of a picture and fingerprints.

Now there may be good reasons to oppose the introduction of a biometric card. These include:

1. Centralizing the issuing of a card in the Federal government (although all Social Security cards are issued by the Federal government).
2. Providing the Feds with a huge identification data base (but they already have similar info in existing Federal data bases as well as access to state identification data bases).
3. Huge costs, in the billions of dollars, to start up and maintain the ID card system.
4. Problems accruing from delays in the issuance of cards including loss of job opportunities for citizens whose cards show up late. In my experience, it is easier to correct a problem with an ID through a state agency than through the Federal government.
5. The collection of fingerprints for every American worker, something no governmental entity within the U.S. has now. There is always the fear that such info will be put to nefarious uses. And we know that the Federal government has not always been scrupulous in observing privacy laws.

Finally, inclusion of a biometric ID requirement may stir up so much opposition from civil libertarians and the folks who worry about the black helicopters that it will doom the bill. I already saw the ACLU talking about how this will impact on the rights of gun owners, always a powerful lobby in D.C. if it gets riled up.

I am a bit of an agnostic on this question. Most of my friends are opposed to a Federal ID, so perhaps they can write in and make their case more strongly than I have.

Tags : biometric id, immigration reform, schumer

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