Should Immigration Reform Include a National ID?

The emerging Senate comprehensive immigration reform is said to include a temporary worker program, a "tough but fair" path to legalization, and enhanced border security. These elements, if well designed, would effectively solve the immigration challenge: enhancing homeland security, reducing the number of unlawful residents, and providing for our economic needs. But should reform also require American workers to have a biometric national ID? What are the implementation issues, how expensive would it be, and would huge government databases of personal information put law-abiding citizens' privacy, identity security, and freedom at risk? Would mission creep ultimately give the federal government unprecedented power over Americans' lives? Please join Cato's Jim Harper and the ACLU's Chris Calabrese for a discussion of the costs and consequences of including a biometric national ID proposal in immigration reform legislation.

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