cab drollery

The first major move of the new government in Great Britain is a surprising display of good sense: the coalition government has decided to abolish the move to a national identification card (the British version of "Real I.D.").

Britain's new government announced Thursday that its first major legislation will be a bill to scrap a controversial and costly plan to introduce national identification cards.

"ID cards will be gone in a 100 days," Home Secretary Theresa May said at a news conference.

May said the government would save more than $1 billion in the next decade by canceling the cards and the corresponding national registry. The cards contain biometric data, photographs and fingerprints.

"But this isn't just about saving money," May said, "It's also about principle.... We did believe there was a liberties argument for not enforcing ID cards on the British people."

That the first reason given for abolishing the program is cost is certainly no surprise. It's the first things conservatives worry about. We've seen that here as Congress foisted yet another unfunded mandate on the states when it passed the "Real I.D." bill, and governors began to howl. Of course, American conservatives at the time put up with the move for some of the reasons that British conservatives did: both were horrified at the influx of immigrants and both were in the midst of pushing the fear of terrorism meme on their citizens. US Republicans also added a dash of voter fraud to the mix as the threat of a Democratic victory approached.

The civil liberties issue was well-down the list on reasons to end the controversial British plan, but that was one issue on which both the Tories and the Liberal Democrats could agree. There is no such agreement in this country. Instead, the Republican and Democratic Party leaders are quite happy with "Real I.D.", as is, apparently, the White House. While the time line for full compliance has been extended to give the states a little breathing room, there is no movement for cancelling this odious plan. We in the United States will still, at least at some point and in some states, have to show our papers on demand.

Sucks, doesn't it.

Labels: Real ID

An estimated 60,000 immigration reform supporters marched in downtown Los Angeles yesterday, and at the rally afterwards the participants heard speeches from Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahoney and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villraigosa. According to the Los Angeles Times, marchers included people from many countries: Mexico, Guatemala, and South Korea among them. They were immigrants both "legal" and "illegal," citizens and not citizens. The scene was repeated on a lesser scale across the country, including Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, where they were met with counter-protesters.

The national coordination of the May Day event flowed smoothly. Other than a couple of arrests for vandalism, the Los Angeles march was remarkably peaceful. Event organizers worked carefully with the Los Angeles Police Department for weeks to ensure that the march was not marred with the kinds of problems that past rallies have had.

The push for reform now, rather than later, is on, even though by all accounts, neither Congress nor the White House want the issue to come up for consideration before the November elections. That's going to anger a lot of those who marched yesterday and may even cripple Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's bid for re-election. Pesident Obama's promise to deal with immigration reform is being deferred, and that's a shame.

What's an even bigger shame, however, is the bill the Democrats have crafted. Here's how the Washington Post characterized it:

The Democrats' legislative "framework" includes a slew of new immigration enforcement measures aimed at U.S. borders and workplaces. It would further expand the 20,000-member Border Patrol; triple fines against U.S. employers that hire illegal immigrants; and, most controversially, require all American workers -- citizens and non-citizens alike -- to get new Social Security cards linked to their fingerprints to ease work eligibility checks. [Emphasis added]

Now there's a bill designed to bring the country together: it's one we can all hate. The Democrats have clearly moved far to the right on this one, which, given the last six years is no surprise.

To be fair, the bill does include a path to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants already here, but it's an arduous process. Republicans have once again balked at "amnesty", so it's entirely possible that provision won't make it through.

What is particularly odious, however, is the national identity card (formally known as a "Social Security Card") for anyone who wants to work in this country. We will all have to carry our papers with us.

So much for constitutional democracy.

Oh, and Democrats: here's a quarter, go buy yourselves a clue. The ethics, humaneness, and constitutional requirements aside, the proposed bill is going to screw you up big time. There are states right now in which 15% of the electorate is Latino. That's just those citizens of voting age. That's going to increase dramatically in the coming years, regardless of what happens this year and next. These people gave Nevada to Obama. Screw this issue up by caving to the fearful and the racist and you won't ever hold the White House or lead Congress again. Nor should you.

Labels: Immigration, Real ID

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano gave the states a sort of Christmas present: the deadline for the implementation of Real ID has been extended from December 31, 2009 to May 11, 2010. The main reason for the extension is to avoid the extra scrutiny of those holiday travelers from states which will not be in compliance with the law by the end of this year. From the Washington Post:

Under a controversial 2005 domestic security program passed by Congress and known as Real ID, states were required to issue more secure licenses by the end of 2009. Those would be the only licenses accepted by federal officials for such purposes as boarding commercial aircraft. Instead, states now have until May 11, 2011, to comply with Real ID, Napolitano said.

"In order to ensure that the millions of Americans traveling this holiday season are not disrupted, DHS is extending the Dec. 31 REAL ID material compliance deadline," Napolitano said in a written statement.

Real ID has indeed been controversial, and for several reasons. Civil libertarians have pointed out that the program is just a fancy variation of a national identification card with all the intrusive collection of data on citizens that implies. States have objected to the requirements as involving a costly and unfunded mandate from the federal government at a time when states are having difficulty financing even the most basic of services.

In the face of these objections, President Obama has suggested a replacement for the original law:

After opponents fought the Bush administration to a standstill, Obama security officials and governors jointly asked Congress last spring to replace Real ID with a new program called Pass ID, which would cost half as much, be less stringent and come with federal grants.

That plan would give states five years to include in their IDs a digital photograph and machine-readable features such as a bar code. It would also require states to verify applicants' identities and legal status by checking federal immigration, Social Security and State Department databases and original birth certificate records.

It would add stronger privacy controls than contained in the Real ID program and drop a demand for new databases.

President Obama's plan just added to the controversy. Now congressional Republicans are upset, claiming that the president's proposal weakens national security instead of bolstering it, the reason for the original bill, and Democrats don't like the natural tie-in with the overhaul of immigration laws. Fortunately for all of us who object to both Real ID and Pass ID for all sorts of reasons, Congress hasn't acted on the new bill, primarily because it has been far too busy playing "Let's Pretend" with health care reform.

Make no mistake, however: Real ID is not dead. It's just lying low. Unless and until Congress acknowledges that the program is an unconstitutional invasion of privacy, it will once again arise, certainly no later than May 10, 2010. The camel has already taken up full residence in the tent.

Labels: 9/11, Privacy, Real ID, Terra Terra Terra