US Department of Transportation National ID Card Proposal: Summary

In 1996, our government passed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) which is supposed to make it harder for illegal immigrants and others to get fraudulent identification papers and cards. The Proposed Rule to the Federal Register, June 17, 1998 proposes regulations to complement the requirements contained in Section 656(b) of the IIRIRA, 1996. The Proposed Rule is called: "State-Issued Driver's Licenses and Comparable Identification Documents; Proposed Rule". (You need to scroll down the page to find it.) The document says, "This document proposes regulations to complement the requirements contained in Section 656(b) of the IIRIRA. This Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposes those regulations." The document "provides that a Federal Agency may only accept as proof of identity a driver's license or ID document that conforms to specific requirements."

The document goes on to read:

"After October 1, 2000, State-Issued documents will not be accepted by a Federal Agency for any identification purpose unless the application process for the driver's license or identification document shall include the presentation of such evidence of identification as is required by regulations promulgated by the Secretary of Transportation." Such regulations apply "only to licenses or documents issued the first time or renewal documents issued according to State law."

The document, which can be downloaded as text or as a PDF file, lists toward the end "Form and Security Features" that driver's licenses and identification documents must comply with before October 1, 2000, in order to be accepted as identification by the US government:

A license or a document will contain:

• Jurisdiction of issuance.
• Indicator that the document is a driver's license or an identification card.
• a document number
• Full name of applicant
• Date of Birth
• License classification, endorsements, restrictions
• Photo or image of the applicant
• Expiration date of the document
• Applicant's signature
• Applicant's address
• Issuance date of the document
• Physical description of the applicant, such as hair color, eye color, height etc.
• One or more security features (see below)
• Social Security Number
• Social Security Number must be able to be verified electronically by the Social Security Administration
• If the applicant does not have a Social Security Number, the applicant must present a document demonstrating lawful presence in the US in a status in which the applicant may be ineligible for a Social Security Number. (Note: Does anyone remember when the Social Security Number was NOT to be used for Identification purposes?--Ed.)

Some of the "Security Features" each document must comply with are:

• ghost image
• ghost graphic
• hologram
• optical variable device (ie. retinal scan)
• machine readable technologies such as magnetic strips: 1-dimensional or a 2-dimensional bar code

Editor's Comment: Sounds like "1984" to me. But as a journalist/publisher friend of mine who lives in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas, Fred Pfeifer, told me, "Thank God the government is handling this. If private industry was doing this, we would have had 1984 in 1974. It takes government a while to do things."

In any case, folks, we need to get prepared for the serious possiblility that Big Brother, whether under Clinton, Gore, Gingrich, Whoever, is out to track and regulate every aspect of our lives, maybe even in the home. What's next? Telescreens? Implanted bio-chips (the so-called "Mark of the Beast")?

Your comments on this are appreciated! E-mail: OmegaZine or the editor

You might also want to read the Electronic Freedom Foundation comment on this proposed rule in terms of privacy rights and our constitutionally-protected right not to have to incriminate ourselves.

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