Worker Database... Leading To National IDs?

Expanded Worker Checks Would Use Faulty System

The new legislation on immigration and "guest workers" will expand a database that has been plagued with problems and inaccuracies. Given that there was the recent theft of a database with 60-plus million veterans, I am not convinced that we should be trusting our governments (federal or state) with that much data. If there is a database at all, it should be focused on those entering the United States on various visas, permanent residents, those that have been admitted on the so-called "guest worker plan", those that have been identified as illegal aliens, and those employers that have broken the law by hiring illegal aliens and under-the-table workers. There should not be a database that holds information on every citizen... we already have that database at the IRS and it has had its hsare of leaks and security problems, including inappropriate access by corporations posing as employers.

But one has to ask if this is leading to a national identification card. It seems to be a slippery slope toward such an ID program. I oppose such an approach as the government has a lousy record in terms of data security and even a worse record on respecting the laws regarding privacy and civil liberties. God only knows how the future Bush-like gangs will abuse such a database or ID program. Besides, if the government wants to issue a national ID, then let them reduce the price of a passport to $5.00 per person and allow that to be the ID... at least then the ID will allow international travel and serve some function that is directly beneficial to the holder of the ID.

A federal database program with a checkered track record could dramatically expand to affect every U.S. employer and worker under provisions of the immigration legislation being considered by Congress.

The program is intended to keep illegal immigrants from working in the United States and to discourage more from entering, but in nearly a decade of small-scale tests, it has had trouble distinguishing between those who are here legally and those who are not. Fixing it and rolling it out nationwide could cost more than $1 billion.

Under the proposal, employers would be required to submit information about their employees to a federally administered electronic system that would automatically check workers' immigration status. Supporters say it is the only way to prevent employers from hiring illegal workers. But an unusual coalition has emerged to oppose the idea, with labor advocates saying it would dissuade legal immigrants from applying for work, big business groups asserting it would be too bureaucratic and civil-liberties organizations arguing that it would jeopardize individuals' privacy.

Their opposition softened somewhat this week after the Senate passed a bipartisan amendment intended to give workers more protections and to make the process less burdensome for businesses. The amendment puts the Senate's version even more starkly at odds with a hard-line House bill that emphasizes aggressively curbing illegal immigration by cutting off the primary incentive -- jobs.

Many conservatives have said that neither bill goes far enough and that the system will be too easily circumvented unless workers are required to use a biometric identification card or other form of ID that is tough to forge.

At the center of the debate is the Basic Pilot Program, which electronically searches a combination of Social Security and immigration databases to verify an employee's status. Now, the Homeland Security program is small and voluntary, with about 6,000 employers enrolled. But it would extend to each of the country's approximately 8 million employers if Congress passes, and the president signs, either the House or Senate version of the immigration legislation. Employers who skirt the rules would be subject to stiff fines, with jail sentences for repeat offenders.