Dean Johnson Comments on Immigration Reform Plan for KCBS
Dean Kevin R. Johnson commented for a KCBS radio news report on a potentially controversial immigration reform plan under discussion in the U.S. Senate. The plan includes identification cards that would be issued to all citizens and legal immigrants and which would be embedded with personal information including fingerprints.
"This is kind of like the national identification card that's been talked about for many years, and gets not just left-wing civil libertarians concerned, but all kinds of civil libertarians concerned," said Dean Johnson. "So I think it's going to be dicey business if it becomes part of a comprehensive immigration reform bill. The concerns are that this database could be used by others than just the government in deciding who's entitled to work."
Kevin R. Johnson is Dean and Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o studies at UC Davis School of Law. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.