More than 200 million people and 90 percent of adults in the United States carry a driver's license.

Under instructions from Congress, the Transportation Department is developing a new national standard that would allow a license from one state to be verified and recorded anywhere in the country.

The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators proposes to establish a system that would use bar codes and biometrics to allow states to share information through linked databases. Biometrics use facial recognition, fingerprints, or retinal scans to identify individuals. Already 37 states store information on licenses electronically--often using bar codes or a magnetic stripe--and a few include fingerprints or imprints of retinal or facial scans.

The association represents all the state motor vehicle agencies in the United States and Canada and counts as associate members the U.S. and Mexican governments.

The new requirements would also dictate minimum standards for proving residency, legal status, and identity. The organization also proposes that state motor vehicle departments share some information with the Social Security administration, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and other police agencies.

"What you're seeing here is sort of a hardening of the driver's license that could lead to development of a national ID system without creating a national ID card," said Marc Rotenberg, head of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington.

Though the government cites increased security needs in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon to justify these moves, the U.S. rulers have been attempting to set up a national ID card system to more easily monitor people's movements for more than two decades.

Initial steps in 1981 and 1986 to set up a federal ID card were shelved due to widespread opposition among working people and others. In 1994 President William Clinton signed off on a national ID card recommended by a commission on immigration reform.  
 
Workers protest attacks
The attempts to establish a national ID card have met with opposition from many immigrant workers after state officials began verifying Social Security numbers through a linkup with the Social Security Administration. The Department of Motor Vehicles is also verifying all existing licenses with the Social Security Administration.

The requirement to show a Social Security number effectively prevents undocumented workers from Mexico and other countries from having a driver's license, a crucial form of identification not only to drive legally but for all kinds of other activities as well. In many parts of the United States not driving severely limits job opportunities.

These measures began to be implemented to comply with the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act passed by Congress under the Clinton administration, which required a Social Security number to be included on drivers' licenses by the year 2000. This measure was later set aside, but many states continue to move ahead with the proposal.

As workers in northern California were refused the right to a driver's license they began taking to the streets in rolling demonstrations and marches in cities throughout the Bay Area. These protests, which began over a year ago, have taken place every few weeks. Usually hundreds of people and sometimes more than 1,000 participate. The actions, called by Centro Azteca de Información in San Jose and other organizations, are organized around the theme, "We produce the wealth, we demand our rights!" Demands include the right to a driver's license and a Social Security card, legal status, and an end to police brutality and the imprisonment of immigrants.

Jose Sandoval, a central organizer of the demonstrations, told the Militant that the protests continue because the situation facing Latino workers has become even more difficult. "Many people come from Mexico thinking it will be better. But in some ways it is worse here because if you don't pay rent they kick you out," he said. "Many workers work for minimum wage and sometimes less than that. Others have to look for work on a day-by-day basis. Now it is worse because workers without a Social Security number can't get a driver's license, which many employers also ask for."

The city of San Francisco announced last month it will accept the matricula consulare--the Mexican consular photo ID cards--as legal identification. The cards are issued to any Mexican who can produce a birth certificate and proof of local residence. Immigrants want the cards because police are stopping people and asking for identification more often and because they reduce the complications of traveling to and from Mexico.

Bernardo Mendez from the Mexican Consulate here estimates that the consulate is now processing 300 applicants a day, triple the rate of a year ago.

Another demonstration to demand the right to a driver's license took place in San Jose January 13.

Deborah Liatos is a meat packer and member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 120. Rollande Girard, a garment worker, contributed to this article.  
 
 
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