March 16, 2012 11:37AM # National Surveillance Programs and Their State Impediments By [Jim Harper](https://www.cato.org/people/jim-harper) --- SHARE Having originally come to Washington to defend federalism, I am always delighted to see the division of powers among the states and the federal government have its proper effect: to protect liberty and limited government. [As with REAL ID](https://www.cato.org/the-real-id-fight-continues-in-the-states/), the E‑Verify federal background check system is meeting up with state resistance. The [Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire reported](http://rlcnh.org/press-releases/rlcnh-applauds-house-for-opposing-a-national-id-system-with-votes-against-e-verify/) yesterday: > This afternoon, the House passed HB 1549, which would prohibit the state’s participation in the E‑Verify system, with a nearly unanimous voice vote. The House also killed HB 1492, which would require employers to verify an employee’s eligibility to work in the United States using the E‑Verify System, with a 226–59 vote. > > > E‑Verify is essentially a national identification system that requires employers to verify all job applicants’ citizenship in a national database system before they can employ them. If the state agreed to participate, all citizens would have to be listed in this national database as a U.S. citizen in order to get a job. You want to fix immigration, feds? You do it without putting American citizens into a national ID system. Good message. Here’s the clear language of [HB 1549](http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2012/HB1549.html), which the New Hampshire House has approved to govern release of motor vehicle records. It embraces legitimate law enforcement while rejecting national identification schemes. > III. Motor vehicle records may be made available pursuant to a court order or in response to a request from a state, a political subdivision of a state, the federal government, or a law enforcement agency for use in official business. The request shall be on a case-by-case basis. Any records received pursuant to this paragraph shall not be further transferred or otherwise made available to any other person or listed entity not authorized under this paragraph. **No records made available under this section shall be used, directly or indirectly, for any federal identification database.** (New language in bold.) To learn more about E‑Verify and its role as a nascent national identification scheme, read my Cato Policy Analysis: “[Electronic Employment Eligibility Verification: Franz Kafka’s Solution to Illegal Immigration](https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/electronic-employment-eligibility-verification-franz-kafkas-solution-illegal-immigration).” ##### Related Tags [Technology and Privacy](https://www.cato.org/technology-privacy) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).