The immigration system is broken in the US. Last week the Washington Post ran an article talking about a peaceful protest by those who had been been waiting many years for visa numbers to become available so they can move to the next stage and finally get a green card.
Then this week Prince William County County in Virginia approved a resolution denying county services to illegal immigrants and ordering police to take a more vigorous approach in checking immigration status. The only problem is the USCIS is slow and primarily paper based, so there is no easy way to verify immigration status. Even if you are US Citizen and never had to deal with the immigration services look at this list of acceptable forms of proof of citizenship in Fredrick Country Maryland. The vitalchek.com website lists over 400 agencies it can supply a birth certificate for. With all these variations do you really think it will be possible for the average traffic cop in Prince William county to quickly verify citizenship?
Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided Swift, a meat processing plants in December 06 and arrested 1,300 undocumented employees. The employees had been run through the federal employment verification system but the system can’t detect stolen social security numbers and birth certificates.
The more that states crackdown on illegal immigration with out a working federal citizenship verification scheme the more risk that citizens or legal aliens will be stopped and held by mistake. Just look at the Security Theatre we have to endure in the name of anti-terrorism. Think about the documentation you might have to carry in the future just to proves you are a US citizen.
