Bills to Prohibit Foreign I.D. Documents Will Undermine National Security

IMMIGRATION LAW & POLICY

Congressional Developments

BILLS TO PROHIBIT FOREIGN I.D. DOCUMENTS WILL UNDERMINE NATIONAL SECURITY
Immigrants' Rights Update, Vol. 17, No. 1, February 21, 2003

Anti-immigration groups have recently proposed bills that would, in effect, prohibit the federal government from accepting or relying on foreign government-issued identification documents presented in obtaining a public benefit or service in the U.S. H.R. 502, introduced by Rep. Tancredo (R-CO) on Jan. 29, 2003, provides that in providing a benefit or service requiring proof of identification, federal entities can accept only an I.D. document that is issued by a federal or state authority and verifiable by federal law enforcement, intelligence, or homeland security agencies. H.R. 687, introduced by Rep. Gallegly (R-CA) on Feb. 11, 2003, would establish a similar prohibition. Similar bills have been introduced in several state legislatures.

These proposals do nothing to protect national security and are based on false assumptions about foreigners and the government-issued identity documents that they legitimately have and use. Their passage would prevent foreigners from entering the country, obtaining lawful status, doing business, going to school, and engaging in virtually every aspect of daily life and commerce. The consular identity document (matrícula consular) issued by the Mexican government appears to be the primary target of the bills, but in fact a huge range of widely accepted documents from every country in the world would be affected.

It must be kept in mind that foreign identity documents are not immigration documents. They do not "legalize" immigrants, nor give them amnesty. Foreign identification documents also do not give their holders permission to enter or work in the U.S., or allow them to do anything that is prohibited by law.

The proposed legislation is flawed in the following ways:

It is overly broad. The proposals would prohibit the federal government from accepting or relying on identification documents presented in obtaining public benefits or services in the U.S., unless the documents are issued by a federal or state authority and subject to verification by a federal law enforcement, intelligence, or homeland security agency. This sweeping language would preclude the use of a vast array of commonly accepted identity documents issued by countries around the world for their citizens, including passports, consular identification cards, birth certificates, foreign driver's licenses, and school identification cards. Obtaining an identity document issued by a federal or state authority in the U.S. would be an impossibility for many noncitizens, whether documented or not.

It would have absurd consequences. The term "public benefit or service" used in proposed legislation covers an enormous range of government activities, and rejection of all foreign identification documents will produce absurd results. Proof of identity is needed to enter the U.S., obtain lawful status, enter a federal building to go to an Immigration and Naturalization Service or Internal Revenue Service office, get a library card at the Library of Congress, pass through security checks in an airport, board a train, or pick up a package at the post office. A requirement of a U.S. federal or state identification document could well put these basic activities out of reach for many noncitizens.

It wrongly presumes that all foreign identification documents are unreliable. The proposals presume that only the United States is capable of issuing identity documents that are secure and authentic. This is not true. For example, the Mexican government-issued matrícula consular requires the same proof of nationality and identity that is required for issuance of a Mexican passport, including an original birth certificate and official photo identification card. And applicants for the matrícula consular must also submit proof of residence, which is not required for the passport.

The identity card contains security safeguards designed to prevent falsification and to ensure that law enforcement officials from Mexico and the U.S. are able to determine the authenticity of the document. Each card bears a photo of the applicants taken at the consulate, a legal address, signature, and serial number. Cards are printed on green security paper with the official Mexican seal and have a hologram of the Foreign Affairs Ministry (SRE) seal that appears over the cardholder's picture. Under fluorescent light, "SRE" can be read over the entire front of the card. The card's reverse side also has an infrared band running across the top. A decoder is required to read invisible security marks. Mexican consulates have distributed decoders to law enforcement officials throughout the U.S.

Other factors to take into account when evaluating the proposed legislation include the following:

It is dangerous to automatically equate immigrants with terrorists. Rejection of all foreign identity documents is based on the unsupportable premise that all immigrants, documented or undocumented, are a threat to U.S. national security. Measures that treat all immigrants as suspected terrorists are dangerous because they undermine national security in a number of ways. They alienate foreigners who have no hostile intentions toward the U.S. They cause immigrants to distrust the government and to fear cooperation with the authorities. They are harmful distractions that draw enormous resources away from common sense law enforcement measures that have proven to protect against terrorism.

Establishing identity is a law enforcement tool. Law enforcement and other public safety agencies need to be able to use all available tools to quickly establish the identity of members of the public. Rejections of all foreign identity documents would undermine national security by preventing noncitizens from presenting documents that establish who they are. For that reason, many law enforcement agencies have endorsed the use of Mexican consular identity documents to establish identity.

U.S. citizens would face retaliation from other countries. The proposed legislation rejects the very same sort of documents that U.S. citizens use when they go to other countries. If those countries respond in kind, U.S. travelers will face the same inability to travel, work, live, do business, and study that noncitizens will face here.

Protection of national security is of the utmost importance. But it can only be accomplished through strategic measures that target terrorism. Wholesale rejection of foreign identity documents will not only be ineffective against terrorism, but, by hampering law enforcement, it will compromise national security even further.