The Wall Street Journal reports that biometric identification cards are the centerpiece of new immigration legislation currently making its ways through the halls of Washington. These cards not just for immigrant workers which would later be expanded to the American populace later. No, this is the establishment of a national identification system that everyone must carry:

Lawmakers working to craft a new comprehensive immigration bill have settled on a way to prevent employers from hiring illegal immigrants: a national biometric identification card all American workers would eventually be required to obtain.

Under the potentially controversial plan still taking shape in the Senate, all legal U.S. workers, including citizens and immigrants, would be issued an ID card with embedded information, such as fingerprints, to tie the card to the worker.

So far only one “Republican” has signed on, Lindsey Graham (SC), who is cosponsoring the bill with ultra-liberal Chuck Schumer (D, NY).

CATO sensibly predicts:

Once in place, watch for this national ID to regulate access to financial services, housing, medical care and prescriptions—and, of course, serve as an internal passport.

Exactly.

Technorati Tags: Declining Privacy in America, American National ID, Immigration, Rise of Socialism in America