[politics] "Cracking down on illegal immigration"

It's the new "think of the children":

Congress is headed toward approving a plan that would require employers to check every worker's Social Security number or immigration work permit against a new federal computer database. [...] Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., says "this is not a national ID system." But several bills authorize studies of "tamper proof" Social Security cards or their issuance. The cards would include some biometric data and would be harder to counterfeit.

So remember, the next time you hear "stemming the tide" or some other such nonsense, it's probably just as much about illegal immigration as the Communications Decency Act was about shielding kids from smut on the internet. It's all about control, baby, all about control. [via AMERICABlog]