Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y) has been picked to create the Senate’s comprehensive immigration legislation. In a book he penned in 2007, the senator favored a “forgery-proof” worker ID card, secured with biometric data such as fingerprints, for all eligible workers in America. Schumer, the chairman of the Senate Immigration, Refugees and Border Security subcommittee, is expected to hold hearings next month.
June 15 Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI) introduced the Providing for Additional Security in States’ Identification Act of 2009 (S. 1261) to change the Real ID Act of 2005. Ironically, immigrants were not mentioned when Akaka introduced his bill.
This legislation starts with repealing part the existing REAL ID Act, and replaces it with a modification of the original act that peels away the most troubling aspects that add high costs without real security benefits, and implements strong new protections to protect the privacy rights of individuals, the senator said.
“Perhaps the most important improvement in the PASS ID Act is the removal of the mandate that states share all of their driver's license data with each of the other states,” he said. “This provision created a clear risk to the privacy of all Americans' personal information and posed a great risk for identity theft and fraud. Moreover, it was this provision that raised the specter of a national database of all Americans’ personal information.
“The PASS ID Act instead will allow states to continue to maintain their own individual databases with more stringent security requirements,” Akaka added. It would also save states money.
The American Civil Liberties Union and some labor representatives have already spoken out against the proposed PASS ID Act.
“Four years after becoming law, the Real ID Act is essentially dead,” said Chris Calabrese, counsel of the ACLU Technology and Liberty Program. “Sen. Akaka is right in his efforts to eliminate a substantial number of the more problematic aspects of Real ID, including the creation of a national database of driver information and misuse of license information by the private sector. But while these attempts at improvement are commendable, Real ID cannot be ‘fixed,’ and we oppose anything that would revive it.”
For more info: Remarks on Real ID Act by Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano on immigration. The ACLU comments on REAL ID.
Comments
Dear CITIZENS let your voice herd just say no to ANNESTY!!!
Mexico wants our land. And they will get it unless we say "NO!"
I want to congradulate Andy on this article. He has so nailed down the essence of why illegal immigration and immigration in general is important. All the subversives are in play. The ACLU, SPLC, so-called human rights groups, ethnic interest groups, etc. Schumer is not interested in a national I.D. card in order to control immigration. He is so full of cr-p that it isn't funny. This cynical person, couldn't care less if the United States of America had a population increase of two hundred million. This DEMOCRAT has supported H1-B visa's replacing Americans left and right, with cheap LABOR foreign nationals, he is totally in the pockets of Wall Street, and he is one of the most corrupt politicians in the U.S.
Being a democrat, he is not interested in the environment.You can't be interested in the environment and support a massive population increase. Nurses, engineers, doctors, teachers, etc. are some of the people who are being imported to replace Americans. Folks,spread the word.
Chucky and the boys don't realize we already have a national ID card. It's called a US Passport. I have one, I carry it with me everywhere as it's the only ID that's not completely insecure like state's driver's licenses, most which are fraudulent or insecure.
All they need to do is make it the defacto ID for federal services and ID and be done with it.
Of course, that won't do as the DC crowd can't make any money on passports...
It's a shame that the invasion of illegal aliens has forced the loss of so many aspects of American civilization. It used to be that it could be assumed that only citizens voted, only citizens had social security cards, only citizens put their children into public schools paid for by taxpayers. But that culture of trust has been destroyed by millions of parasitical invaders.
Now we are going to have an i.d. card -- do we blame "big brother" or the 15 to 30 million illegal aliens who have made this a necessity?
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