A forward from libernet -

From: ddeming@geohub.gcn.uoknor.edu (David Deming) To: libernet@dartmouth.edu

Subject: "Clinton Considering National ID Card"

Following appeared in Saturday, August 14, front page of Oklahoma City newspaper.

Clinton scares the shit out of me. His administration is turning out to a nightmare -- the secular version of the AntiChrist.

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LOS ANGELES (Reuter) -- President Clinton said in an interview published Friday that his administration is studying the feasibility of creating a tamper-proof national identity card aimed in part at preventing illegal immigrants from using government benefit programs.

Though civil liberties groups have strongly opposed similar plans in the past, Clinton told the Los Angeles Times he now believes the idea "ought to be examined".

Clinton said he disagreed with a proposal presented earlier this week by California Gov. Pete Wilson for constitutional changes that would deny citzenship to the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants. He said he was also against Wilson's recommendation that emergency medical treatment should be shut off to undocumented residents.

"None of us would tolerate just letting people die on the streets if it came to that," Clinton was quoted as saying.

In the midst of a growing anti-immigrant backlash nationwide, Wilson on Monday called for sweeping reforms in federal laws to help stem the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States.

Wilson's package also included a proposed tamper-proof identity card.

Civil libertarians and some conservatives have joined forces over the years to block the development of such a card, argueing that it would give the government too much control over individuals.

Clinton acknowledged that "a lot of immigration groups and advocates have said that any kind of identification card like that sort of smacks of Big Brotherism".

But he said the idea should be studied and that it is under discussion as part of the health care reform effort headed by first lady Hillary Clinton.

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