A Smart National ID Card Would Stop Illegal Immigration, Cold!

Every pundit from the lowest menial worker to the highest paid TV personalities have weighed in on the Congressman Joe Wilson, "You lie," outburst, at President Obama's healthcare speech, before a joint session of Congress, last week.

Lost in the self righteous finger waving, is the topic that the comment was directed at, which besides healthcare was illegal immigration.

The media once again demonstrated their penchant to report what all the other media outlets were reporting, like the mad echo of an endlessly repeating, feedback loop.

It's hard to take immigration hardliners like Congressman Joe Wilson seriously because it would be very easy to stop illegal immigration if Congress really wanted to.

Here's how it can be done: Require all citizens, and legal residents to carry a national ID card. You would have to display the card when you travel out of state, at bus stations, and airports, and at banks, driver's license departments, and when you apply for a job. To prevent counterfeiting the card, the government would need to put some kind of biometric chip on it that copies your iris or fingerprint.

The card would be expensive to implement at first, but the money spent would be a good economic stimulus for the high tech companies that would manufacture the computer software and scanners necessary to implement such a system. In addition to stopping illegal immigration, implementing a Smart ID Card would help prevent crime and stop terrorism.

If a Smart National ID Card with a biometric chip proves to be too expensive for now, we can make cheaper ID cards that are very difficult to counterfeit. We can use new technologies that are used today in the manufacturing of paper money.

Why would a Smart ID Card stop illegal immigration? 99% of illegal aliens come to the U.S. to work. When they couldn't get jobs because they don't have a counterfeit proof ID card, they would return home or not come here in the first place. I'm fairly certain that a National ID card would work.

According to Wikipedia, over 100 countries, including some in Europe, have mandatory national ID cards. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_identity_card_policies_by_country

Sorry, We Have No Fruit and Vegetables, Today

Assuming you could implement this system without too many problems, it would be impractical to kick every illegal alien out of the country. First of all, we wouldn't have fruit and vegetables at our markets. According to a 2006 NY Times article, the United Farm Workers estimate that more than 90% of California's farm workers are illegal. Most of the fresh produce and vegetables in the USA comes from California.

The only practical solution would be to authorize temporary work visas for farm workers and other needed alien workers. The immigration reform bills introduced by Sen. Ted Kennedy and Sen. John McCain in 2007 would have introduced such a system. However, immigration reform never passed and Congress continues to pass the problem on to future generations.

Proof exists that even temporary crack downs on illegal immigration can cause severe disruptions in the California farm industry. In 2006 spot shortages of farm workers in California caused 10 million dollars worth of pears to rot, unpicked in the fields. Check out this article in the NY Times with pictures of piles of rotten pears in Lakeport California.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/washington/22growers.html?ei=5088&en=65e6cb618

The labor shortages were caused by tighter border security and publicity from the illegal immigration frenzy sweeping through Congress in 2006, scaring off the undocumented farm workers.

Immigration hardliners like South Carolina Congressman, Joe Wilson have embraced crackdowns that won't stop illegal immigration. They have fantasies of high tech fences with sensors, helicopters, and laser beams in the sky that zap hordes of illegal Mexicans running for our border. Our border with Mexico is simply too vast for a fence to keep all illegal aliens out. Wilson and his fellow right wingers would rather rant and rave about illegal aliens than solve the problem. The illegal immigration issue is used to enrage the conservative masses who cast their angry votes on Election Day. It's easier to lash out at the illegal aliens than prosecute the employers who hire and exploit them. But they're simply tilting at windmills.

Outside of a few high profile cases, employers who hire illegal workers have gotten off with a slap on the wrist. Most of the cases have penalized the illegal aliens not their employers. It's too easy for the employer to claim the illegal alien used a phony social security number that they weren't aware of. That's why a Smart, National ID Card is necessary.

I'm sure that privacy advocates on the right and the left would oppose any type of National ID Card. The information on the card would need to be limited and safeguarded. Americans trust the IRS to safeguard their private information. Since there are very few cases of privacy breaches by IRS employees, information on National ID cards could be equally protected. Privacy could be safeguarded by very strict laws. I bet the U.S. will have a national ID card within 20 years. Especially if there is another terrorist attack like 9/11, 2001.

I'm in favor of a carrot and stick approach to immigration: Tougher borders and law enforcement, national ID cards, and temporary work permits for needed workers. Legalizing needed illegal workers would bring them out of the shadows of fear and employer exploitation. It would help raise the salaries and standard of living for all working class Americans.

It's easy to see why immigration hard liners would want to lash out at illegal aliens. White males have seen their power and majority status diminish in some areas of the country. The N.E. Philadelphia neighborhood where I live, used to be 95% white Caucasian, in the 1960's and 70's when I was a kid. Today it's about 50% Caucasian, with Asians, Hispanics, and Blacks, making up the other 50%. When I drive along Castor Ave in Oxford Circle, all the stores that existed 20 and 30 years ago are gone. They are replaced by ethnic groceries, and store fronts displaying foreign language signs to cater to the recent immigrants.

It's easy to feel resentful towards the Spanish, Asian, and Portuguese speaking immigrants that surround me. Fortunately, the crime rate is low and most of the immigrants are law abiding and hard working. Embracing the change is my only alternative to harboring prejudices and nostalgically longing for a world gone forever. I spent a recent New Years Eve at a Brazilian restaurant in my neighborhood, bringing in the New Year, samba style with my favorite Brazilian Jazz band.

The Great HI-B Visa Fraud

It's amusing to watch the immigration hardliners like Congressman Joe Wilson get hot under their dog collars. It was Wilson's allies in Congress who quietly allowed millions of immigrants to enter the country before 9/11. Many of the immigrants overstayed their visas, and committed other types of immigration fraud and abuse. The muckraking journalists Bartlett and Steele reported that the Federal H1-B Visa program utilized by big business, to issue work visas to aliens, was loaded with fraud and abuse. Companies were allowed to hire aliens only when they couldn't find a qualified American. That provision was almost never enforced.

American citizens should get first crack at jobs before they are offered to people residing here illegally. That should be the reward to the families of generations of American citizens who shed their blood in foreign wars for our county. However, the illegal alien problem needs to be handled with compassion and reason. So, when you see little right wing dogs, impotently spitting and growling during illegal immigration arguments, give them a little kick and tell them to shut up. They won't bite.

The end