National identity cards are not a requirement for citizens in most countries around the world. Drivers’ licenses are common personal identifiers here in the United States, and while they give important information about their rightful holder and identify their home state they do not exist to establish that the holder is of a certain a nationality (in the same way that a passport does).
The history of identification cards and materials is quite an interesting one, as citizens and spies made use of them. The usage of the modern passport can be dated to the seventeenth century, when they were implemented as a method of domestic surveillance. Later passports and ID papers gave people leave to cross borders into foreign territories, as we use them today, as a symbol of personal and national identity. Indeed, passports are more formal than ID cards, as they allow for international travel and contain more than basic individual details.
Today there are lawmakers in Texas who would like to reinstate a type of national identification card. City leaders in Austin are pushing to make IDs mandatory accessories for people. A main target for this initiative is the immigrant population in the state. The municipal IDs would highlight if a person was undocumented. There are benefits and consequences in this proposal, but lawmakers insist that the pros outweigh the cons. Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole explained: “The main purpose of the municipal ID is to give some validity to who you are.”
The City Council of Austin is going to meet in the near future to discuss the implementation of the IDs in the city. Cities like San Francisco, California, and New York, New York already have similar municipal ID cards.
Photo credits: US Goverment Marshals, Can Stock Photo