Virginia County to Impose Mandatory ID Law
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Prince William County, Virginia, is raising the drawbridge to keep out illegal immigrants:
And this totalitarian tactic would be no less a "Papers Please!" nightmare than mandating that people carry passports — how?
Of course, the Supreme Court has already held that there is a general right not to carry identification. The most recent clarification came in Hiibel v. Nevada*. In that case, the Court held that a person detained, on other grounds, by law enforcement need only be honest in communicating his identity. He is not, however, required to prove it (i.e., to have identification).
By the same token, law enforcement has no authority to seize someone, even as a brief additional administrative step subsequent to some other infraction, merely for not having ID — since when do we detain people for not breaking a law? This the Fourth Amendment does not allow.
"Round 'em all up and let the databases sort them out..." is yet another manifestation of how an "us versus them" hysteria can erode civil liberties. First was the War on Terror, now it is the War on Illegals. Either way, it's really a war on us all.
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*Hiibel v. Nevada, 542 U.S. 177 (2004), citing favorably to Brown v. Texas, 443 U.S. 47 (1979) (police may not detain merely to ascertain identity), Kolender v. Lawson, 461 U.S. 352 (1983) (state cannot require possession of "credible and reliable" identification).
Prince William County is moving to enact what legal specialists say are some of the toughest measures in the nation targeting illegal immigrants, including a provision that would direct police to check the residency status of anyone detained for breaking the law — whether shoplifting, speeding or riding a bicycle without a helmet.So now your driver's license is your "existence license." And you better not exist in Prince William County without it.
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The resolution does not address how county authorities would verify residency status, but supervisors said they wouldn't want residents to carry passports in Prince William; a valid driver's license or state-issued identification would suffice.
And this totalitarian tactic would be no less a "Papers Please!" nightmare than mandating that people carry passports — how?
Of course, the Supreme Court has already held that there is a general right not to carry identification. The most recent clarification came in Hiibel v. Nevada*. In that case, the Court held that a person detained, on other grounds, by law enforcement need only be honest in communicating his identity. He is not, however, required to prove it (i.e., to have identification).
By the same token, law enforcement has no authority to seize someone, even as a brief additional administrative step subsequent to some other infraction, merely for not having ID — since when do we detain people for not breaking a law? This the Fourth Amendment does not allow.
"Round 'em all up and let the databases sort them out..." is yet another manifestation of how an "us versus them" hysteria can erode civil liberties. First was the War on Terror, now it is the War on Illegals. Either way, it's really a war on us all.
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*Hiibel v. Nevada, 542 U.S. 177 (2004), citing favorably to Brown v. Texas, 443 U.S. 47 (1979) (police may not detain merely to ascertain identity), Kolender v. Lawson, 461 U.S. 352 (1983) (state cannot require possession of "credible and reliable" identification).
Related Posts (on one page):
- Does the Constitution Count as a "Legitimate Reason"?
- Virginia County to Impose Mandatory ID Law
- Ohio Set to Become a Police State
- Runaway Train
Posted by Kip on
6 July 2007
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