[Video] Bush announces Biometric ID Cards for all immigrants

Biometrics refers to the automatic identification or identity verification of living persons using their enduring physical or behavioral characteristics. Many body parts, personal characteristics and imaging methods have been suggested and used for biometric systems: fingers, hands, feet, faces, eyes, ears, teeth, veins, voices, signatures, typing styles, gaits and odors.

Sec. 403(c) of the USA-PATRIOT Act specifically requires the federal government to "develop and certify a technology standard that can be used to verify the identity of persons" applying for or seeking entry into the United States on a U.S. visa "for the purposes of conducting background checks, confirming identity, and ensuring that a person has not received a visa under a different name."

The recently enacted Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002, Sec. 303(b)(1), requires that only "machine-readable, tamper-resistant visas and other travel and entry documents that use biometric identifiers" shall be issued to aliens by October 26, 2004. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the State Department currently are evaluating biometrics for use in U.S. border control pursuant to EBSVERA.

Even prior to September 11, however, large-scale civilian biometric identification systems were being pushed. Both the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1995 (PRWOA), a welfare reform law, and the Immigration Control and Financial Responsibility Act of 1996 (ICFRA), an immigration reform law, called for the use of "technology" for identification purposes.

The PRWOA requires the states to implement an electronic benefits transfer program "using the most recent technology available . . . which may include personal identification numbers, photographic identification . . . and other measures to protect against fraud and abuse." This law covers, for example, the Food Stamps program.

The ICFRA requires the President to "develop and recommend . . . a plan for the establishment of a data system or alternative system . . . to verify eligibility for employment in the United States, and immigration status in the United States for purposes of eligibility for benefits under public assistance programs . . . or government benefits." This system "must be capable of reliably determining with respect to an individual whether . . . the individual is claiming the identity of another person."

The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRAIRA) requires the INS to include on alien border crossing cards "a biometric identifier (such as the fingerprint or handprint of the alien) that is machine readable." The State Department collects fingerprints and photographs of aliens for these cards.

The Truck and Bus Safety and Regulatory Reform Act of 1988 (TBSRRA) requires "minimum uniform standards for the biometric identification of commercial drivers."