ID Cards for Migrants Aid National Security
Concerns over the security of matricula consular documents merely reinforce the fact that our nation is less secure when we have migrant workers in this country with no status and no acceptable form of identification (“ID Cards Called Risky,” June 27). The initiative of presidents Vicente Fox and George W. Bush to create some program of worker legalization should not have been suspended post-9/11 but, indeed, accelerated.
Migrant workers suffer increased exploitation and dig themselves more deeply underground, while nonetheless being counted on to provide essential labor in critical economic sectors. Acknowledging this reality through the implementation of work authorization (or earned legalization) programs will not only enhance human rights protections but also make our nation more secure. Terrorism is a genuine threat, but the tools of this trade are something other than brooms and fruit buckets.
John F. Dulles
Regional Director, U.S.
Commission on Civil Rights
Denver
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