Snapshot #4

The House of Nonrepresentatives has passed a xenophobic bill creating walls both technical and physical against immigration and asylum. It would

make states verify that they're not giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and to grant judges broader power to deport political asylum seekers they suspect may be terrorists.

The legislation, passed by a 261-161 vote, also would allow the completion of a fence along the U.S.-Mexican border south of San Diego by waiving environmental hurdles.

The feds don't actually have the power to determine features of driver's licenses or the requirements to obtain them. But what they can do - and what this bill would give states three years to comply with - is set standards for what features a license must have in order to be accepted as ID for federal purposes, including applying for a job, applying for benefits, getting on an airplane, entering a federal building, and many more. Because driver's licenses are used so widely as ID, the net effect is to force states to adopt the federal standards. It approaches, that is, a de facto national ID card. Not a universal one because not everyone drives, but close enough.

Equally ominous is the provision that would let judges deport asylum seekers immediately if they find what they think are "inconsistencies" in the seekers' claims rather than, as now, letting them remain in the country during appeals. The difficulty of undertaking such an appeal from outside the US is so enormous that the House would for all practical purposes eliminate appeals altogether.

"We might as well say, 'If you are being persecuted or you are being abused as a woman or raped as a child, don't come to America.' They are raising the bar beyond the abilities of the individuals that are fleeing persecution," said Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Fla.

Fortunately, the bill faces strong opposition in the Senate.