Tuesday Debate: Are National Worker ID Cards A Good Idea?

Would you be surprised to learn that Linsdey Graham is working with Chuck Schumer to push this idea?

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.

While there have certainly been some on the Right who have been against any sort of national ID card, it is primarily the Left who has opposed this notion. Going back to 1998, the ACLU has complained about them as violating civil rights. All through the Bush years, the ACLU and other liberal groups have complained about them. And the ACLU has been complaining about this ID of a national worker card since July 2009. Not quite sure why, since it sounds very socialist/commie.

ACLU attorney Chris Calabrese points out that a biometric national ID system would not only create a “No-Work List” ensnaring lawful workers — like American citizens — due to the high error rate in federal databases, but it would also establish a hugely expensive new federal bureaucracy.

Wait, “a hugely expensive new federal bureaucracy”? Yet the ACLU supports national health care. Moving on, that’s a different subject, Calavrese is correct. The federal government already does a piss poor job with their databases. Just consider the terrorist watch list, which has an 8 year old boy on it.

(From the WSJ link at top) “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.”

Personally, I feel the best way to deal with illegal immigration is to put the burden on the companies who hire illegals. Make it extraordinarily expensive if they get caught with illegals on the payroll and they have not done due diligence to make sure the person is eligible to work. That would take care of a large chunk of the illegals her to work, allowing law enforcement to deal with those who are here to be bad guys.

Anyhow, how would you, as a United States citizen, feel about having to carry a card giving you the OK to work?

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3 Responses to “Tuesday Debate: Are National Worker ID Cards A Good Idea?”

  1. Reasic says:

    Yet the ACLU supports national health care.

    The ACLU supports a single-payer system, or the currently-proposed health care reforms? Big difference.

    Not quite sure why, since it sounds very socialist/commie.

    Gee. Maybe the ACLU isn’t socialist. Maybe that’s a lie that’s been fed to you by your trusted partisan sources.

  2. Rob in Katy says:

    We have a national ID, it is called your Social Security Number that you have to give to your cable company, doctor, drivers license bureau… I am not sure how else one would prove that they are entitled to the rights and privileges supposedly granted to only legal visitors and citizens. I am not sure how else to keep illegals from working and staying here without just hammering employers that hire them. that still doesn’t stop the jihadie that is staying with aunty and uncle, the only way to catch them is to be able to ask to see papers…

  3. jasongr says:

    this is just yet another big huge government boondoggle. proving yet again that we have a SINGLE party MONOPOLY with two putative choices. The Government-Security complex is big business these days!

    time to vote Libertarian!

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