A national ID card in 2010?

A new attempt at immigration reform may require a biometric ID card for all working Americans. Privacy advocates aren't pleased

Fingerprint national ID
(Image credit: Corbis)

National identification cards, long feared by privacy advocates, may soon become mandatory for American workers. In a bipartisan effort to curb the hiring of illegal immigrants, Sens. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have proposed legislation that, if passed, will require all working Americans to carry biometric ID cards containing fingerprint records and other personal information. Sen. Schumer calls the measure "the nub of solving the immigration dilemma." But Chris Calabrese, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer, warns the cards would be a "massive invasion" of privacy. Are national ID cards the solution to our immigration woes — or an unacceptable intrusion into our lives? (Watch Ron Paul chime in on the national ID card debate)

This is an affront to our freedom as Americans: Not only would this "ghastly" plan be a frightening invasion of privacy, says Alex Nowarsteh in Fox News, it "would treat every American like a criminal by requiring them to enter their most intimate and personal data into a government database." This is a "naked government power grab," and it must be stopped.

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