The bill, which its supporters say will provide additional protection for the United States from terrorists, also deprives illegal immigrants of the opportunity to obtain a driver's license and involves closing a five-kilometer “gap” in the fence on the US-Mexican border. Through this open segment, the construction of which is hampered by environmental specialists, thousands of illegal immigrants enter the United States every year.
If the document is passed by all instances, applicants for political asylum will have to undergo more thorough screening. Opponents of these measures among Democrats point out that in this way the United States undermines its reputation as a country whose doors are always open to the oppressed.
The driver's license, according to the bill, will henceforth have to contain brief information about the owner, encrypted in a magnetic strip or microchip. To obtain such a card, one must provide a social security number, which only persons residing legally in the United States have.
In the near future, the document will be considered by the Senate and, if everything goes equally well in the second chamber of Congress, it will be sent to the president for signature.
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