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Partisan control of Congress and the presi-

others would respond quite differently. Some

dency has reversed since Miller and Moore

workers and employers would collude to avoid

attacked the Republican plan to register all

this immigration enforcement system. Work

American workers in 1995, but national-ID-

"under the table" would increase and, along

based worker surveillance seems alive and well

with it, other forms of illegality.

under a Democratic Congress. More clear than

The value of committing identity fraud

ever are the sound reasons why electronic

would rise, and more illegal immigrants would

employment eligibility verification (EEV) and

commit this crime or deepen the minor frauds

"internal enforcement" should be rejected.

they are now involved in. Criminals and crimi-

nal rings would use the Social Security number

(SSN) data from stolen laptops and hacked

Dysfunctional Immigration

databases much more often in identity fraud

Law Begets EEV

as a robust black market for Americans' per-

sonal information emerged.

The use of these data to fabricate mock

The nation's immigration policy is at a

identities would compound the problem for

crossroads. According to Labor Department

victims in a diabolical way. Seeking to prove

projections, the U.S. economy, which is

Both employers

already near full employment,4 will continue

their right to simple employment, American

and the govern-

workers would have to appeal to bureaucrats

to create 400,000 or more low-skilled jobs

who assume they are identity thieves.

annually in the service sector--tasks like food

ment would have

Miller and Moore were correct: creating an

preparation, cleaning, construction, landscap-

to collect and

accurate federal EEV system would require a

ing, and retail sales. Yet from 1996 to 2004, the

store personal

national ID system. Such a system would have

number of adult Americans without a high

extraordinary costs. About $20 billion would

school education--the demographic that typi-

information

cally fills those jobs--fell by 4.6 million.5

be the tally for implementing a national ID

about American

system, some of that cost hidden in taxes,

These demographic facts create very pow-

some of it paid directly by each national-ID-

erful economic forces. Demand in the United

workers that is

carrying worker. Operating the verification

States for both low- and high-skilled workers

not necessary for

program would cost at least $300 million to

is high, and workers in many nearby countries

employment.

$400 million per year.

badly need the work offered in the United

The cost in lost privacy to all Americans

States. The economic gradient is steep.

would be high. Both employers and the gov-

Just as water follows the laws of gravity,

ernment would have to collect and store per-

workers continually move to the United

sonal information about American workers

States. Unlike water, however, which simple

that is not necessary for employment--only

barriers can stop, people on both sides of the

for administration of employment laws and

border dedicate their ingenuity to getting

regulations. Kept in digital form for long

what they want and need. The self-interest of

periods, this personal information could be

employers and workers is a powerful (and

readily converted to untold new purposes.

almost always beneficial) force that is hard to

Even if this system were workable and cost-

quell or conquer. Thus, migration into the

effective, we should not want it. "Mission

United States has persisted over the last sev-

creep" all but guarantees that the federal gov-

eral decades.

ernment would use a worker registration and

Today, however, the political consensus

surveillance system to capture greater regula-

holds that the country has too many immi-

tory control over Americans' lives. Ultimately,

grants and that something must be done

about it.6 A part of that consensus is that inter-

all kinds of transactions that are now person-

al and private, or matters of state or local law,

nal enforcement of immigration law should

would become subjects of federal government

be strengthened, including by electronic em-

authority.

ployment eligibility verification. EEV requires

3