Border bill will mark citizens` licenses

United Press International (excerpt) ^ | May 27, 2006 | Shaun Waterman

[HAL9000]

Excerpt -

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- Buried in the huge border bill the U.S. Senate passed Thursday is a provision that would allow states to put citizenship details on new secure driver`s licenses.

The pilot program, which would allow those getting new licenses the option to have the card confirm their citizenship as well as their identity, would make licenses an effective substitute for a U.S. passport at the nation`s borders and throughout the Caribbean. And critics say it would be an important step towards a national identity card system.

The license provision is one of a series of changes inserted into the immigration reform bill at the last minute by lawmakers concerned about onrushing deadlines for the so-called Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative -- a congressionally mandated plan to tighten entry requirements at the U.S. northern border.

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[SandRat]

Next thing you know they'll want the Country Code field list with alias' from the MIDB for populating and parsing purposes.

[Revel]

Of course. And you need the same ID to get a job that they are planning to give to the illegals. Otherwise the whole thing would not work. How could it? It is a power reach.

[lajefa]

The pilot program, which would allow those getting new licenses the option to have the card confirm their citizenship as well as their identity, would make licenses an effective substitute for a U.S. passport...

Of course states could just take the applicants' word that they were citizens and presto: motor voter registration, too.

[mewzilla]

And critics say it would be an important step towards a national identity card system.

I have a passport. What's the diff?

[raybbr]

This is great. All the Bushbots that pissed and moaned about a national identity card are getting one from their own.

[seastay]

These IDs will be used to for banking, for airport ID, applying for tax subsides services, and every other possible use that citizens use IDs for, so that for all practice they will be citizens expect for the fine print.

They will not be forced to go home and wait in the back of the line like everyone else on the planet, so even though they arn't citizens, these types of IDs and plans for all practice purposes makes them a virtual citizen instantly , they laugh at are stupidity for taking the word citizen literally on documents!