ISSUE / U.S. IDENTITY CARD : Work Document Idea Could Stir Wide Revolt : Congress faces pressure to require job authorization papers, but many predict voter outcry on plan.

New evidence that the sweeping immigration reform law passed in 1986 has caused “widespread discrimination” against Latinos and others in the job market is forcing Congress to revive a controversial idea: creating a national identification document for all workers.

But this time around, with less room for compromise, the national ID card could boil into a major controversy, drawing into the fray millions of voters across the country who paid little attention before.

The issue arises indirectly out of the problem of how to keep millions of illegal aliens from flooding the American job market--primarily from Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia. One of the key difficulties is how employers can tell the difference between legal and illegal workers when they apply for jobs.

Almost no one is eager to solve that problem by issuing national identification documents to all legal residents of the United States, but events and rising political pressure are pushing Congress in that direction.

Background

Four years ago, responding to demands for action against illegal workers, Congress approved the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. It imposes stiff penalties on employers who hire illegal aliens.

At the time, representatives of Latinos, Asians and others warned that employers would be so fearful of incurring the new fines that they would shy away from hiring all workers with foreign-sounding names, accents or faces.

Congress compromised: It enacted the tough sanctions against employers but pledged to reconsider the matter if concrete evidence of discrimination against legal workers developed. The General Accounting Office was directed to monitor the situation.

Now, four years’ experience and three GAO reports offer clear evidence that fear of penalties has indeed led many employers to discriminate. There is also evidence that sanctions have discouraged the hiring of illegal workers.

Opposing Strategies

Immigrant rights groups and civil libertarians are demanding outright repeal of the employer sanctions. They also oppose creation of a national worker identification document, saying it would lead to a centralized filing system that would threaten the privacy and civil liberties of all Americans.

Led by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the National Council of La Raza and the ACLU, the anti-sanctions forces have brought several Latino and Asian-American legislators--who provided the margin of victory for the 1986 compromise--into their camp for the renewed battle.

Sanctions supporters, who heavily outnumber opponents in Congress, note that the GAO found that “nearly all the evidence suggests that IRCA has reduced illegal immigration and employment.”

To prevent counterfeiting, proponents say, the ID card could function much like a credit card, with a magnetic strip containing such information as Social Security number and date of birth, along with the worker’s physical characteristics. Some have suggested using holograms to make the cards harder to fake, or imprinting them with holders’ thumbprints.

The Prospects

While bills to repeal the penalties have been introduced in both the House and Senate, the early signs suggest lawmakers are not likely to do so. The outcry against illegal workers is too strong.

At the same time, Congress is finding it hard to ignore employers’ demands for a sure-fire way to avoid fines. Under the present law, workers are allowed to use any of 17 different documents--10 of them issued by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service--to prove work eligibility; document fraud is widespread.

That brings Congress to the national worker ID card--and to the possibility of a larger controversy.

Any serious proposal to compel every American to register with the government in order to get a job would force millions of previously indifferent voters to get involved. And that, some analysts say, could turn into a far bigger issue than anyone bargained for.