OK, let me try one more time. What method of ID would YOU suggest to identify US legal status?
That's not the question. The question is: Why should we adopt a program that gives the federal government the power to tell me whether I can or cannot work? Don't you see a danger in giving our servant, the government, the say over whether you or I be employed? Isn't there something Orwellian about surrendering our privacy to Big Brother in order to gain permission to put food on the table?
But to answer your question, it doesn't necessarily matter the form or method of discovering illegal status (it generally is self-evident), so long as we are not required to give up our liberties in the process. As this testimony before Congress attests, the EEVS steps over the line, treads onto our privacy, and opens the door to much abuse. (All under the guise of the best intentions, of course.) Besides, it won't even work, because it increases the demand for forgeries and identity theft.
You know, it's interesting that the Employment Eligibility Verification System was started in pilot in 1997, under Clinton, before border security was brought to attention. Only recently, at Bush's urging, has this already-in-the-works program been attached to the illegal immigration problem. That should tell you something. It is unfortunate that some folks are knowingly or unknowingly using our insecure borders to pass this monstrous beast.
Congressman Hunter would do better to stick to building an effective fence and enforcing the laws already on the books, rather than getting mixed up in this liberal mess. It wouldn't take much. We just need leaders with the political will to enforce our borders, who will preserve not just our physical security but liberty also.