The solution is a national ID card. Require every U.S. citizen 18 years or older to apply for a tamper-proof, non-forgeable national ID card which proves citizenship. The card must at least include a unique ID number, your name, a current photograph, and a positive means of identity verification (a thumbprint and/or iris scan). To apply, you must present a certified birth certificate or citizenship papers.
If your name has changed since birth, you must offer proof of the legality of such name change (marriage certificate if you are a woman). Since birth certificates can easily be forged or illegally obtained, the application form must also require additional information to verify your identity, such as social security card, residences and jobs during the past five years, or marital history.
The data from the application form must be entered into a new federal database, where it will be thoroughly checked for evidence of fraud. If the application contains suspect information, the applicant is interviewed to determine the appropriate disposition.
Once everyone here legally has a national ID card, visa, or green card, only illegals will be unable to present a required ID. Any person without one will be subject to arrest and, after an investigation and immigration hearing, subject to deportation.
Here's what Congress should do:
1. Enact and fully fund the proposed national ID card initiative.
2. Enact laws denying employment, driver's licenses, and welfare benefits to those having none of the three approved types of identification (national ID card, valid visa, or green card). These laws shall go into effect immediately after the deadline for issuing ID cards to all U.S. citizens has passed.
3. Enact laws requiring state, county, and city law officers to ascertain whether persons stopped or arrested have one of the three required types of identification.
If none of those IDs are produced, the individual shall be detained until an immigration agent determines the person's status. Any state or local government entity, which fails to enact and enforce these policies, shall be denied all federal funding.
4. A high percentage of illegal immigrants work in the huge illegal economy, where requirements for business licenses and employment verification checks are ignored, and most transactions are in cash to evade paying employee and business taxes.
A large increase in the number of immigration and IRS agents is the solution. These agents would be authorized to investigate and shut down illegal businesses, prosecute the owners, and deport their employees who are here illegally.