Senate Hearings On Fingerprinting All U. S. Workers

In case you thought Senator Charles Schumer was joking when he proposed requiring the federal government to keep fingerprints of everyone working in this country, the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee is holding hearings today on the feasibility of requiring all workers to participate in a "biometric verification system" using fingerprint or iris scan data embedded in a permanent identification card which would be required for verification by employers of the employee's legal right to work in this country. Business opposition to the plan so far is based on the issue of who would pay for such a system, rather than the privacy concerns expressed by the ACLU and others.