National ID

Congress recently mulled over the merits of a national ID linked to biometrics. What exactly this would look like, no one is sure, but under the Bonner Plan a biometric card would be the only legal form of identification for US workers. This unspecified biometric could be a digital photo, a fingerprint or an iris scan.

The Bonner Plan caused controversy among lawmakers last year and was met with opposition from groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and a national Council of La Raza, a Latino civil rights organization. Opponents say this form of identification puts an undue burden on the job seeker to prove she is work eligible in a government system fraught with database errors.

I do not know the outcome of this issue, but it as a nation we may have bigger fish to fry than chasing after immigrants. After all, the wages of illegal immigrants make up less than one percent of the GNP. Perhaps the economic disparity between Mexico and US will begin to level out during the next several years reducing the lure of illegal immigration for some. Maybe Obama’s administration will support the idea of helping undocumented workers to earn legal status.

In any event, calling a plan tamper-proof sounds like folly to me. From what I’ve observed in my half century on the planet is that nothing is foolproof. Digital technology lends itself to hacking my its very nature. Conservative politicians might just as well go on devising plans to building a wall across Texas than pursuing the biometrics course as outlined in the Bonner Plan.