71% Favor Requiring Foreign Visitors to Carry Universal ID Card

[GaryC 7]

Luz does not have a valid I-94. It expired in July. Yet she is legal. And how many aliens carry their passports everywhere they go? This would streamline the identification process. Hey, all of you can try to punch holes in it if you want but 71% of Americans want this and so do I.

Have you considered that 71% of Americans want this because they essentially know nothing about immigration and I-94's?

And entering on a K1 would not get you an expiration date on any new ID card that is later than what is already on the I-94. Perhaps you think then they would need to issue a new ID card to K1 visa holders adjusting status with the NOA1 from the I-485. But what expiration date would they put on that?

They can put any date they want. If the process goes over the time on the card they can issue a new one with a new date. You guys can nit pick all you want. You can claim that it will not work all you want. But this is something that is going to happen. The next election will be about illegal immigration and the candidate that is tough on illegal immigration will win.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Luz does not have a valid I-94. It expired in July. Yet she is legal. And how many aliens carry their passports everywhere they go? This would streamline the identification process. Hey, all of you can try to punch holes in it if you want but 71% of Americans want this and so do I.

Have you considered that 71% of Americans want this because they essentially know nothing about immigration and I-94's?

And entering on a K1 would not get you an expiration date on any new ID card that is later than what is already on the I-94. Perhaps you think then they would need to issue a new ID card to K1 visa holders adjusting status with the NOA1 from the I-485. But what expiration date would they put on that?

They can put any date they want. If the process goes over the time on the card they can issue a new one with a new date. You guys can nit pick all you want. You can claim that it will not work all you want. But this is something that is going to happen. The next election will be about illegal immigration and the candidate that is tough on illegal immigration will win.

Sure. But it doesn't mean that this specific idea will go through.

[Jenn! 918]

Luz does not have a valid I-94. It expired in July. Yet she is legal. And how many aliens carry their passports everywhere they go? This would streamline the identification process. Hey, all of you can try to punch holes in it if you want but 71% of Americans want this and so do I.

Have you considered that 71% of Americans want this because they essentially know nothing about immigration and I-94's?

And entering on a K1 would not get you an expiration date on any new ID card that is later than what is already on the I-94. Perhaps you think then they would need to issue a new ID card to K1 visa holders adjusting status with the NOA1 from the I-485. But what expiration date would they put on that?

They can put any date they want. If the process goes over the time on the card they can issue a new one with a new date. You guys can nit pick all you want. You can claim that it will not work all you want. But this is something that is going to happen. The next election will be about illegal immigration and the candidate that is tough on illegal immigration will win.

It's not nitpicking, it's common sense. THe next election may very well be all about illegal immigration, that doesn't mean that issuing redundant documents is a good idea.

[Caladan 19]

Will this ID have a photograph on it? Maybe something like the country of origin, birthdate, first and last name. And it should have a little place to have stamps to show when you entered the U.S.. And maybe it should be a booklet, so forms can be stapled in it. Like, some people are allowed to stay 90 days, and some are 180. The booklet would have room to staple that in.

And maybe we should outsource it to the person's country of origin, so their country can check to see if the person is who they say they are. We could call it... a Personally Accessible Small Sheaf, Proof Of Reasonable Travel. We'll call it a p.a.s.s.p.o.r.t. for short.

[GaryC 7]

Like, a valid I-94?

Look at this board, a lot of us have a hard time telling what is legal and what isn't. We need a single universal way of identifying who is here legally and who isn't. That way the cops don't have the excuse of "it isn't my job to figure that out". Right now the average layman would be able to tell. Look at Luz, she does not have a valid I-94, her visa is expired but since I have filed for her AOS she is legal.

Is the universal ID card going to apply to every tourist that comes to the U.S., too? We had 64 million visitors to the U.S. last year.

These are questions that have to be taken seriously if they're going to be thrown out there as solutions to the 'gatecrasher' problem.

Yes, you are issued a card at the POE with an expiration date that reflects the day your visa expires.

Again, called the I-94. Why add another layer to this when it would be a lot easier to just educate people about what an I-94 looks like?

Luz does not have a valid I-94. It expired in July. Yet she is legal. And how many aliens carry their passports everywhere they go? This would streamline the identification process. Hey, all of you can try to punch holes in it if you want but 71% of Americans want this and so do I.

As pointed out previously the average person has no idea of how the immigration process works - which makes ideas like this ID scheme seem incredibly naive. Standing behind 71% of people who have little or no knowledge of how immigration works is a vote for ignorance IMO.

Yes that is your opinion, and it's a wrong opinion. We can do this and it will not be naive. Other countries can control the aliens in their country and so can we.

Why is it wrong Gary? You're advocating the ideas of people who have no idea how immigration works. Its clear from the idea being presented - adding another layer of pointless bureaucracy for people who are between statuses. I don't doubt that things need to be tightened up - but giving an ID card for people already applying for an ID card (AKA Green Card) is ridiculous.

No it isn't. This would take the place of a green card. It will be one unified card that will cover aliens of any status. For a LPR it will have a 10 years expiration date. For a conditional LPR it will have a 2 year expiration date. For a tourist visa holder it will have the date the visa expires. For those in the process of adjusting it can have a date determined to be the average time the process takes. If the person hits a snag a new card with a new date can be issued. This isn't hard people. It can and will be done.

[GaryC 7]

Will this ID have a photograph on it? Maybe something like the country of origin, birthdate, first and last name. And it should have a little place to have stamps to show when you entered the U.S.. And maybe it should be a booklet, so forms can be stapled in it. Like, some people are allowed to stay 90 days, and some are 180. The booklet would have room to staple that in.

And maybe we should outsource it to the person's country of origin, so their country can check to see if the person is who they say they are. We could call it... a Personally Accessible Small Sheaf, Proof Of Reasonable Travel. We'll call it a p.a.s.s.p.o.r.t. for short.

We do live in the computer age you know. It will have embedded biometrics and a bar code that can access that person status from any law enforcement computer. That way there is no doubt as to the status.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I guess all this will happen regardless of the processing times at the Service Centers...

6 months to wait for a card that will already be expired (or near expiry) by the time you get it.

What about the Visa Waiver Scheme?

Edited August 19, 2007 by Number 6

[GaryC 7]

I guess all this will happen regardless of the processing times at the Service Centers...

6 months to wait for a card that will already be expired (or near expiry) by the time you get it.

They can print NOA1's in a day or two. Cards can be printed in the same amount of time. And everyones card will be linked to a computer database that can be checked at any time. Even if the card expires and for whatever reason they didn't get a new card the database would have their legal status. A cop can check my DL and arrest record in a matter of seconds when I get stopped. This would be no different.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

From this can I assume that you'd advocate doing away with the current Visa Waiver Scheme?

How would those tourists and holiday-makers get cards? They should all apply for tourist visas?

[Caladan 19]

Awesome! So it'll be a new scannable p.a.s.s.p.o.r.t! I think they introduced those about ten years ago.

Of course, if we add biometrics, that's going to make tourism a pain. You've got a choice -- either it's just a portable I-94, or it's so complicated that we kill tourism and business by making 64 million people a year essentially file for AOS.

The system we have is fine as far as IDing legal people goes. The problem isn't that we couldn't require all visitors to carry their passport, the problem is that expecting local cops to stop people who look like immigrants instead of chasing local bad guys isn't a good use of resources. I'd rather have the cop arrest the guys who stage muggings near the bank that I want them pulling the cooks out of the pizza joint across the street.

Fund ICE so they can raid businesses. Spend the money there rather than making duplicate, portable I-94s.

[Jenn! 918]

Would part of this plan be issuing U.S. citizen cards as well that must be carried at all times? I don't see how it would be of much use otherwise.

[Caladan 19]

It also seems a little naive to assume USCIS will have immediately printed, unforgeable, biometrics and scannable ID cards for visitors when so far it's taken 19 days for them to fail to acknowledge that they've received C.'s AOS application when they already have a full file on us from the fiance process.

[GaryC 7]

Awesome! So it'll be a new scannable p.a.s.s.p.o.r.t! I think they introduced those about ten years ago.

Of course, if we add biometrics, that's going to make tourism a pain. You've got a choice -- either it's just a portable I-94, or it's so complicated that we kill tourism and business by making 64 million people a year essentially file for AOS.

The system we have is fine as far as IDing legal people goes. The problem isn't that we couldn't require all visitors to carry their passport, the problem is that expecting local cops to stop people who look like immigrants instead of chasing local bad guys isn't a good use of resources. I'd rather have the cop arrest the guys who stage muggings near the bank that I want them pulling the cooks out of the pizza joint across the street.

Fund ICE so they can raid businesses. Spend the money there rather than making duplicate, portable I-94s.

Hehe, you are going to poo-poo this no matter what. Ok, but it will not change anything. This is going to happen. We are already seeing the backlash of the amnesty bill and the illegals demanding their "rights". The next election will be turned on this issue and we will find a way to control the flood. There will be a unified way to identify who is legal and who isn't. A universal card linked to an accessible to law enforcement database is the right way to go.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Wouldn't this also duplicate the provision that all foreigners entering on the Visa Waiver have to have biometric passports?

[smoke20 0]

Fred Thompson wants to deal with gatecrashers with enforcement.

ok fred has my vote if he gets the nomination. i really don't care about any other issue in this election. this illegal immigration & "activism" in favor of it has got to stop. it makes me ill, to sit on VJ & read all the verbal diarrhea the self proclaimed "activist" keep spewing. its time for americans to quit being so pussifed about illegal immigration & quit feeling sorry for everyone thats not fortunate enough to be an american..before long being an american won't be something to be proud of or cherished.