"biometric" ID cards

Bob Scheer had an interesting OpEd recently on HuffingtonPost about Bush's immigration policy (and why he thinks it's generally a good idea). While I leave you to discover whether or not you agree with his main thesis, one comment he made about the proposed ID cards got me to thinkin' (dangerous, I know).

Scheer says that having an ID card for immigrants, unless universalized for all workers, would "become a discrimination nightmare." I'm not particularly comfortable with the idea of universal ID cards, or with ID cards for only immigrants (particularly the "biometric" kind. What the hell does that mean anyway, they'd have our DNA sequenced on them or something? Is this uber-creepy or what?), but Scheer brings up a really good point. If they were to establish immigrant only cards, when exactly would an employer need to ask for that card? If you don't "look" American? If you don't "speak" like an American? How would this be any more efficient than the current system of raiding restaurants and only detaining the people with brown skin?

I've got a solution, why don't we just assign numbers and implant bar codes in the nape of immigrants necks, like puppies? Then employers can just scan them as they walk in. We could make the bar codes scannable from far away so we can see where they are at all times. And when the INS comes by, they can just all line up and get scanned like in that Washington Mutual commercial. "If the bar code says your visa's up, buddy, your visa's up. Now get in the truck!" Yes. That's what we should do...