Bill calls for encrypted Social Security cards
Lawmaker sees proposal as a way to thwart illegal immigrants and would-be terrorists

Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Wednesday, May 4, 2005
www.sfgate.com

Excerpt

Washington -- With Congress poised to make it virtually impossible for illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses, Republican leaders are preparing another crackdown on undocumented workers -- legislation to mandate a high-tech, counterfeit-proof Social Security card that would be required to get a job.

Rep. David Dreier, R-San Dimas (Los Angeles County), said on the House floor Tuesday that the House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to begin work on his proposal next week, just about the time Congress gives final approval to an $81 billion supplemental appropriation for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The war appropriation includes the GOP-backed immigration measures highlighted by the "Real ID Act," which requires states to verify the legal residency status of driver's license applicants or risk having the state's licenses banned for such federal uses as boarding an airplane or cashing a check. States have objected to the proposed law, saying it would be an expensive unfunded mandate.

The requirement has a special resonance in California, where a move to allow undocumented residents to obtain driver's licenses helped bring down Democratic Gov. Gray Davis in the fall 2003 recall election. The Legislature subsequently repealed the law under pressure from Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger vetoed another licensing bill last September after failing to reach a compromise with legislators.