Reply #10: Pardon me for asking, but WHY is this a big issue?

[gratuitous]

Is there a majority of Americans out there just chomping at the bit to make their state Departments of Motor Vehicles an adjunct of the INS? And if DMV is going to become a deputy arm of the INS, checking everyone's citizenship, why not other governmental agencies? Police, building inspectors, school lunch servers?

Shoot, why stop with governmental agencies? We're locked in an existential battle for our very survival as a country! Let's deputize supermarket check-out clerks: "Can of beans? Papers, please!" Or parking lot attendants: "I'd like to see your drivers license, proof of insurance, and oh yeah, your social security card or passport, before I can let you park your care here. It could be filled with explosives, you know."

This is kind of a radical idea, I know, but how about we let the INS worry about people's immigrant or citizenship status, and let the DMV test and license drivers? Damn, but this country is so wet-its-pants scared of every little thing anymore, it's hard to believe that we used to style ourselves as the home of the brave.