Do identity cards help prevent uncomfortable immigrants from finding work?

One of the largest political problems in the UK comes in a small size. Small boat size, in fact.

Successive governments I promised To put an end to immigrants who cross into a boat from France and other countries of northern Europe to Britain.

Prime Minister Kiir Starmer Pledge to “destroy gangs” Behind people’s smuggling network. However, more than 50,000 people He arrived through the English channel since the Labor Party arrived in power in July 2024.

In an attempt to respond to Popular critics On this issue, Starmer Declare Every person in the UK will need a digital identification card to show their right to work. The government argues that its compulsory situation will make it difficult for illegal immigrants to find work through unofficial means and thus remove a “cloud factor” tempting foreign citizens to come to Britain.

Alexander MuirA lecturer in the North Eston University Business Administration in London is well -like that is similar to the employment of transit and seasonal workers, and spent time working in the hotel and hospitality sectors.

He says that if it is implemented in a safe way, the digital identity card plan has the ability to help employers to feel more about those who take it as employees, especially in the United Kingdom, employers are they Law is required To ensure the right to work in the country.

“Could it make verification faster and more reliable? Yes, it could be the case,” Muir says. “Currently, you need to manually verify identifiers or passports, etc. It is very unlikely, if you do not have technology or programs, to see if they are forged or if things are over.

“The plan is to be mandatory … it will be somewhat important and will be a major examination of human resources – you will become the main discourse.”

The concept announced by the government and its planned in its place by 2029 is that a new digital identifier will be held on the mobile phones of people in the form of an application, with the addition of the identifier to the “portfolio” section of the device. According to the votingThe plan has a 14 % approval classification, with 31 % support and 45 % opposition.

the Proposal It was appointed to include the name, date of birth, information about nationality or residence status, along with a picture. When using it, government officials pledged that its data will be encrypted to help protect it from infiltrators or leaks. The digital identifier will be mandatory as a way to prove the right to work.

For Muir, information about the residence status may be useful for the employer so that they have details about the number of hours they can provide to someone. A person studying in the United Kingdom on an international student visa, for example, is only allowed to work between 10 to 20 hours a week During the semester period, depending on the conditions set by their college or school.

He adds: “I assume from the digital ID card that you will be able to know whether the person is in a student visa or not or has a residence.” Then you will be able to know who is qualified to work on the number of hours, so if you think about it, this may help in planning the workforce somewhat.

“It can give you more protection because it takes responsibility for the employer a little because you are fulfilled [an employee’s status] Using what a plan is somewhat managed by the government. “

Muir notes that there are defects in the industry with the proposal in addition to the benefits, especially if the readers of digital identity need to be fixed to the human resources departments and that the training of employees is required to ensure the use of managers in the new system to verify work rights.

There are also broad societal problems with the digital ID card, as it argues Andres Saenz de SicilyAssistant Professor of Philosophy on the northeastern London campus.

“I will be worried about how [digital IDs] Saenz De Sicilia, who is part of the broader system, digital monitoring and digital monitoring, says.

It refers to developments in the United Kingdom, such as the 2016 Investigation Forces Law – Snooopers Charter– This allowed security services to collect personal data online as well as the increasing use of direct -face recognition programs by the police, as evidence of the presence of an increasing society.

“All of these things, when you start linking them all together,” Saenz De Sicilia continues, “it constitutes at least in principle, a kind of anxious monitoring and infiltration system. This is something that digital identity contributes.”

There is also an issue whether digital identifiers solve the problem that is presented to address – the number of migrants who take dangerous ways to come to Britain without visas.

The United Kingdom and Ireland are extremist values ​​in Europe that citizens are not issued with identity cards. Britain rejected the idea, as happened in the first decade of the twentieth century Civil freedom concerns. but The neighbors shavedIncluding France, Italy, Germany and Spain, all citizens currently require material identity cards. From 2026, all 27 European Union countries, including Ireland, agreed to present it Digital identity governor.

The United States is in the process of offering a real definition, and it is a compatible license together when going up to local flights without a passport. The procedure was finally presented yet Recommendation is made As a way to enhance security after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Sinz de Cysilia says that countries with identity systems still face “irregular immigration problems and uncomfortable workers”, and as a result, he wonders about why 70 million people in the UK may now request identity cards to address the issue of tens of thousands that illegally enter the country every year.

He says, “Even if there is evidence indicating that it will help in this [tackling irregular migration]We are talking about very small numbers of people. “

This story was re -published as a courtesy News.northeASTERN.edu.