Cato Study Release: National ID Card Ineffective and Intrusive

[Thomas Grant Edwards <tedwards@src.umd.edu>]

CATO STUDY RELEASE

September 7, 1995

National ID card ineffective and intrusive, study says

Congressional Republican proposals to create a national
computerized registry and an ID card for all American workers
would establish "a dangerous, invasive, and unworkable new
expansion of federal police-state powers," according to a new
Cato Institute study.

In "A National ID System: Big Brother's Solution to Illegal
Immigration" (Policy Analysis no. 237), John J. Miller and
Stephen Moore say Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.) and Rep. Lamar Smith
(R-Tex.) are taking the "critical first step" toward implementing
a potentially invasive national worker authorization system. 
Moore is director of fiscal policy studies at the Cato Institute,
and Miller is vice president of the Center for Equal Opportunity.

An Orwellian system

The authors say that Smith and Simpson want to require an ID card
and computerized worker registry for the 150 million Americans
and legal immigrants in the U.S. labor force.  Sen. Dianne
Feinstein (D-Calif.) wants that national ID card to include such
information as a photograph, fingerprint, and retina scan.

The study says such a system would, in effect, "require employers
to submit all of their hiring decisions for approval to a federal
bureaucrat."  The authors call the proposed registry and national
ID card "Big Brother's solution to illegal immigration."  They
say the national ID card would

    constitute a massive invasion of privacy and violation of
     basic civil liberties;

    cost the government $3 billion to $6 billion to implement; 

    subject workers to the effects of potentially huge error
     rates, with perhaps millions of legal aliens denied jobs
     because of faulty government databases (even a 2 percent
     error rate would lead to 1.3 million Americans being
     wrongfully denied jobs);

    increase discrimination against Latin and Asian Americans;
     and, ultimately,

    fail to affect illegal immigration.   

Moore and Miller say that, once established, the computer
registry could be easily expanded and applied to other areas,
vastly increasing the size and scope of government. Some of the
potential uses of the system include

    implementing a Clinton-style health care plan and security
     card;

    ensuring employer compliance with affirmative action
     requirements; 

    tracking child support payments; 

    verifying that parents are getting their children
     vaccinated; and 

    conducting background checks on would-be gun purchasers,
     among others.

Better approaches available

After spending a year defeating the Clinton administration's
health security card, Moore and Miller say, the new GOP Congress
now wants every American to carry a "work authorization card"
that would create similar potential for intrusion and abuse.

The authors claim there are ways to address the problem of
illegal immigration that would expand, rather than curtail,
Americans' basic freedoms.  We could, for example,

    expand legal immigration quotas, 

    eliminate employer sanctions law,

    establish greater economic integration between the United
     States and Mexico, 

    restrict welfare eligibility of legal and illegal
     immigrants,

    facilitate the deportation of criminal aliens,

    tighten visa control, and

    improve border enforcement.

Why it matters

It is an iron rule of politics that whenever there is a perceived
"crisis" in Washington, Congress responds by passing bad laws
that expand the powers of government.  Moore and Miller say the
immigration issue is fertile ground for such laws. The
implications of a national ID system would range far beyond
today's debate over illegal immigration. The study says the
proposed worker registry system has no redeeming feature. It will
not curtail illegal immigration, and it will create opportunities
for abuse. At a time when Americans are loudly demanding more
freedom and smaller government, Moore and Miller say a computer
registry is a giant step in the wrong direction.