NewsMax Wires
Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2004

Story Continues Below

  House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., R-Wis., who requested this GAO report, stated, "The use of consular ID cards by illegal aliens as a substitute for identity documents that confirm U.S. citizenship or legal status in the U.S. not only presents a security threat but it undermines our immigration laws.

Unfortunately, it's becoming increasingly clear that Congress will need to provide strong and clear direction to regulate these cards, as well as establishing civil penalties for federal officials who flaunt enforcement of the law."

The GAO report points to weaknesses in U.S. government policy regarding foreign governments' issuance of CID cards to aliens illegally present in the United States. CID cards are issued by some governments to help identify their citizens residing in a foreign country. Possession of a CID card does not certify legal residence within a country; thus, cardholders may be either legal or undocumented aliens.

CID cardholders in the United States may derive benefits from the cards' acceptance for identification purposes by financial institutions, law enforcement agencies, and state and local governments in the United States. For example, there are banks that have begun accepting CID cards for opening bank accounts, some law enforcement agencies encourage their use for identification purposes, and some local governments accept them as identification required to obtain governmental services. In addition, some states accept CID cards as a part of required documentation for obtaining driver's licenses.

The study notes, "the Mexican issuance policy still relies on visual, rather than computer-based, verification of some documents used to obtain CID cards, including birth certificates that the Federal Bureau of Investigation says may be fraudulently obtained" and that "officials of the Department of Homeland Security's Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement warn that incorporating technical security features into identification documents such as Counselor Identity Document cards does not guarantee their authenticity."

GAO reports that DHS's Seattle office has noticed an increase in both the number of counterfeit CID cards and genuine cards containing bogus biographical information. The report also quotes FBI testimony at a hearing of the Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims that CID cards are not reliable forms of identification, can facilitate crimes such as money laundering and alien smuggling, and can help terrorist move around the United States with ease. CID cards are a perfect way to establish new identities and ensure that aliens' names won't come up on terrorist watch lists or criminal data bases.

The GAO finds that without consistent guidance by the federal government on the advisability of accepting CID cards, the risk is heightened that they will be used to establish false identities. Therefore, GAO recommends the Homeland Security Council "direct its task force to develop and implement consistent guidance that would reconcile potential conflicts among federal agencies and complete their efforts to develop policy to enable state and local governments, financial institutions, and others to assess the authenticity of CID cards issued by foreign governments."

(PRNewswire)

© 2004 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Editor's note: