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.