Care to explain why? Basically Ron Pauls immigration policy is to actually ENFORCE the rules that are already in place with a few minor changes. How is that a bad policy?
Here is a letter from Ron Paul regarding the proposed National ID Act.
A National ID Bill Masquerading as Immigration Reform
by
Rep. Ron Paul,
MD
by Rep. Ron Paul, MD
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Watch
Ron Paul deliver this speech to the House of Representatives
on video.
Before
the US House of Representatives, February 9, 2005
Mr.
Speaker:
I
rise in strong opposition to HR 418, the REAL ID Act. This bill
purports to make us safer from terrorists who may sneak into the
United States, and from other illegal immigrants. While I agree
that these issues are of vital importance, this bill will do very
little to make us more secure. It will not address our real vulnerabilities.
It will, however, make us much less free. In reality, this bill
is a Trojan horse. It pretends to offer desperately needed border
control in order to stampede Americans into sacrificing what is
uniquely American: our constitutionally protected liberty.
What
is wrong with this bill?
The
REAL ID Act establishes a national ID card by mandating that states
include certain minimum identification standards on driver’s
licenses. It contains no limits on the government’s power to
impose additional standards. Indeed, it gives authority to the Secretary
of Homeland Security to unilaterally add requirements as he sees
fit.
Supporters
claim it is not a national ID because it is voluntary. However,
any state that opts out will automatically make non-persons out
of its citizens. The citizens of that state will be unable to have
any dealings with the federal government because their ID will not
be accepted. They will not be able to fly or to take a train. In
essence, in the eyes of the federal government they will cease to
exist. It is absurd to call this voluntary.
Republican
Party talking points on this bill, which claim that this is not
a national ID card, nevertheless endorse the idea that “the
federal government should set standards for the issuance of birth
certificates and sources of identification such as driver’s
licenses.” So they admit that they want a national ID but at
the same time pretend that this is not a national ID.
This
bill establishes a massive, centrally-coordinated database of highly
personal information about American citizens: at a minimum their
name, date of birth, place of residence, Social Security number,
and physical and possibly other characteristics. What is even more
disturbing is that, by mandating that states participate in the
“Drivers License Agreement,” this bill creates a massive
database of sensitive information on American citizens that will
be shared with Canada and Mexico!
This
bill could have a chilling effect on the exercise of our constitutionally
guaranteed rights. It re-defines "terrorism" in broad
new terms that could well include members of firearms rights and
anti-abortion groups, or other such groups as determined by whoever
is in power at the time. There are no prohibitions against including
such information in the database as information about a person’s
exercise of First Amendment rights or about a person’s appearance
on a registry of firearms owners.
This
legislation gives authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security
to expand required information on driver’s licenses, potentially
including such biometric information as retina scans, finger prints,
DNA information, and even Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
radio tracking technology. Including such technology as RFID would
mean that the federal government, as well as the governments of
Canada and Mexico, would know where Americans are at all times of
the day and night.
There
are no limits on what happens to the database of sensitive information
on Americans once it leaves the United States for Canada and Mexico
– or perhaps other countries. Who is to stop a corrupt foreign government
official from selling or giving this information to human traffickers
or even terrorists? Will this uncertainty make us feel safer?
What
will all of this mean for us? When this new program is implemented,
every time we are required to show our driver’s license we
will, in fact, be showing a national identification card. We will
be handing over a card that includes our personal and likely biometric
information, information which is connected to a national and international
database.
H.R.
418 does nothing to solve the growing threat to national security
posed by people who are already in the U.S. illegally. Instead,
H.R. 418 states what we already know: that certain people here illegally
are "deportable." But it does nothing to mandate deportation.
Although
Congress funded an additional 2,000 border guards last year, the
administration has announced that it will only ask for an additional
210 guards. Why are we not pursuing these avenues as a way of safeguarding
our country? Why are we punishing Americans by taking away their
freedoms instead of making life more difficult for those who would
enter our country illegally?
H.R.
418 does what legislation restricting firearm ownership does. It
punishes law-abiding citizens. Criminals will ignore it. H.R. 418
offers us a false sense of greater security at the cost of taking
a gigantic step toward making America a police state.
I
urge my colleagues to vote “NO” on the REAL ID Act of
2005.
February
12, 2005
Dr. Ron
Paul is a Republican member of Congress from Texas.
Here is Ron Paul himself explaining the immigration policies he would support
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwZsBiZYocg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U4RgUh5G3
Here is Ron Paul at the Republican debate at the historically black Morgan State University Debate (if he is racist, why would he go to this? If you watch, the BLACK moderator treated Paul with utmost respect, some of the other GOP frontrunners, did NOT show up) Here is his answer on Illegal immigration.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWmHJmVuASg
