Does the SAVE act 'save' us - or is it a Trojan horse?

Everyone says the right thing about immigration reform and some in congress propose a law that they say is for this purpose but it is really a Trojan horse.

The "Secure America through Verification and Enforcement Act of 2007," otherwise known as the SAVE Act (H.R. 4088), is NOT serious immigration reform; and it's dangerous to our liberty. Most of the immigration "solutions" in H.R. 4088 are meaningless window dressing that will not help to stop the invasion of illegal aliens but the SAVE act creates new federal data banks that will infringe on our right to privacy and will usher in a ‘big brother’ system under the guise of a means of tracking illegal aliens in our country.

Section 201 of the bill will require employers to use the E-Verify system "for every person or other entity that hires one or more individuals for employment in the United States", not just illegal aliens, everybody. That means every time one of us applies for a job our background will be checked through a national data bank. Every single American citizen will have to have their personal information placed in that data bank for this purpose. The personal data of each of us will be registered in a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) worker registry; and this must be accomplished within four years. Just because illegal immigrants break the law - all Americans must become part of ‘Big Brother’s surveillance system.

One section of the SAVE Act will establish a standardized, national databank that tracks "vital events" in our lives, including our birth and death. Here is what it says:

"Section 203. Establishment of Electronic Birth and Death Registration Systems

(a) In consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Commissioner of Social Security, the Secretary shall take the following actions:

(1) Work with the States to establish a common data set and common data exchange protocol for electronic birth registration systems and death registration systems.

(2) Coordinate requirements for such systems to align with a national model.

(3) Ensure that fraud prevention is built into the design of electronic vital registration systems in the collection of vital event data, the issuance of birth certificates, and the exchange of data among government agencies.

(4) Ensure that electronic systems for issuing birth certificates, in the form of printed abstracts of birth records or digitized images, employ a common format of the certified copy, so that those requiring such documents can quickly confirm their validity.

(5) Establish uniform field requirements for State birth registries.

(6) Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, establish a process with the Department of Defense that will result in the sharing of data, with the States and the Social Security Administration, regarding deaths of United States military personnel and the birth and death of their dependents.

(7) Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, establish a process with the Department of State to improve registration, notification, and the sharing of data with the States and the Social Security Administration, regarding births and deaths of United States citizens abroad.

(8) Not later than 3 years after the date of establishment of databases provided for under this section, require States to record and retain electronic records of pertinent identification information collected from requestors who are not the registrants.

(9) Not later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, submit to Congress a report on whether there is a need for Federal laws to address penalties for fraud and misuse of vital records and whether violations are sufficiently enforced."

Can there be any doubt that this section of the SAVE Act is designed to establish that birth certificate databank and a national ID system?

Consider the following before accepting the SAVE act as a mechanism to deal with our illegal immigration problem:

• The SAVE Act is a tool to ultimately set up a National ID system. The SAVE Act will not stop the invasion of illegal aliens but will enable their conversion to "authorized aliens".
• The SAVE Act creates a data base that advances a cradle-to-grave government tracking system with all of our biographical information (is this not ‘big brother’; what’s next embedded devices to track our movements?).
• The SAVE Act helps advance implementation of a National ID Card because is helps establish a birth certificate databank with personal biographical data (Section 203).
• The SAVE Act will not secure our nation's borders, will not safeguard citizens, will not preserve what's left of our Rule of Law, and will further infringe on our liberty.

It is important to safeguard our country but it is possible to do that without taking away our freedom and letting the government get closer and closer to controlling our lives. This bill should not be passed.