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ACLU Opposes Worker Verification/Identification Proposal:
An Alarming Solution to an Overstated Problem

FOR RELEASE September 30, 1994

Statement by Ira Glasser, Executive Director
American Civil Liberties Union

	The Commission on Immigration Reform's proposal for a government
database and identification registry is extremely disturbing. The
Commission risks endangering the civil liberties of millions of Americans
in reaction to overheated rhetoric in the debate over how best to deal
with illegal immigration. 

	While the Commission may be sincere in its desire to create a
rational system for regulating immigration, how exactly does it propose to
safeguard privacy, protect against discrimination and prevent this
database from being used for purposes for which it was never intended? 

	Under the proposal, the government would collect personal data on
all adult citizens and legal residents.  This data would be maintained in
a central database that would be continually updated and easily accessible
to all employers. Whether the Commission issues a new identity card linked
to the database, relies on other proof of identity or experiments with
some high-tech alternative, it is clearly recommending what amounts to an
internal passport system. 
 
	It is impossible to design a central database that is both easily
accessible and, at the same time, limited to authorized persons and
purposes. No computer system is fail-safe. The Commission may hope that
this registry will not be used to invade privacy, to harass minorities or
to facilitate unconstitutional government surveillance, but it is willing
to experiment on over 90 million people before it figures out how to avoid
those evils. 

	The Commission offers the identification registry as a solution to
the well-documented discrimination against workers who look or sound
"foreign" brought about by the employer sanctions provision of the
Immigration Reform and Control Act. But who does the Commission think will
be required -- by employers, landlords, merchants, banks, the police -- to
prove their right to live and work here?  Instead of creating a new tool
for discrimination, we should address the failures of employer sanctions
directly. 

	The Commission says it is concerned about safeguarding privacy and
civil rights.  But how would this be accomplished?  From our experience
with the Social Security card, we have learned that statutory safeguards
on improper use can too easily be eliminated or ignored. If the Commission
on Immigration Reform were serious about civil liberties, it would
condition its proposal on the adoption of a constitutional amendment
guaranteeing the right to privacy. 

	Finally, the ACLU is troubled by the undemocratic process by which
the Commission proposes to execute this proposal -- bypassing Congress and
calling instead for an executive order. A proposal with such far-reaching
implications is clearly a matter for thoughtful public discussion and
thorough congressional debate."


ACLU Opposes Worker Verification Registry:
Proposal is Built on A Foundation of Quicksand

Statement of Lucas Guttentag, Director
ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project

 	The Commission on Immigration Reform's proposal for a government
database and identification registry is disturbing not only because it
poses a threat to fundamental civil liberties, but for practical reasons
as well. It is built on a foundation of quicksand -- the Immigration and
Naturalization Service's data files. 

	Based on our direct experience in litigation against the INS about
its computer systems, the American Civil Liberties Union has found that
the system is so incomplete, inaccurate and chaotic that it is a
meaningless measure of who is entitled to work or live in the United
States. Yet the Commission would create a registry that relies exclusively
on data collected and maintained by the INS and the Social Security
Administration. This is a recipe for disaster. 

	The Commission itself acknowledges the need for improvement in
INS' recordkeeping, but underestimates the extent of the problem. In fact,
the INS is notorious for inexcusable bureaucratic bungling and ineptitude. 

	In Los Angeles, for example, the INS routinely denies employment
authorization to eligible asylum applicants because their names are
missing from the INS computer file. A high-ranking INS official recently
admitted that over 60,000 files had been "lost out in space" and never
entered into the system. Only a day before the Commission presented its
testimony to Congress, the ACLU filed suit to prohibit the INS from
denying work authorizations to eligible applicants based on this deficient
data. 

	The INS is unable to locate information even when it has been
collected and computerized. For example, in 1991 we obtained copies of INS
computer discs created to identify and track 50,000 people covered by the
settlement of a lawsuit. Our computer expert explained in a sworn
statement that the data were virtually useless because of rampant errors
that rendered a search by name or "alien number" impossible. 

	Even if all INS data could be cleaned up -- a massive undertaking
that we agree is long overdue -- the Service has a long and painful
history of failure in the maintenance of its files.  We have learned, for
example, that the INS fails to enter changes of address and that change of
address notices are routinely thrown away, making it impossible for
applicants to prove they sent them in. 

	INS' incompetent recordkeeping even prevents it from accurately
tracking fees it is supposed to collect. We learned last summer that in
the course of entering data on 89,000 cases in its Green Card Replacement
Program, the Service had failed to distinguish between people who paid the
$70 fee and those who did not. 

	The Commission on Immigration Reform's proposal, based on a
national registry using INS data, is ill-informed, misguided and
irresponsible. 

                              --endit--
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