The Folly of California’s Crackdown on Fake Identification

     There are nearly five million illegal immigrants living in the United States. More than 40 percent, or two million of them, live in California. Most of California’s illegal immigrant community lives in the southern part of the state, especially in Los Angeles County. These people hold jobs, drive cars, rent or own property, and live life in the same fashion as do the 30 million other legal resident Californians. How do they do it?

     Two simple words: fake ID. California is awash in counterfeit identification. It consists of two types. The first is the truly fake identification, manufactured and sold all over the state. The second is valid, but fraudulently issued identification from the state itself. California is a perfect example of the folly of bureaucratic attempts to crack down on false identification.

     In 1991, California became one of the first states to introduce a holographic, multi-part, "tamperproof" drivers' license. State officials heralded this new license as the beginning of the end of the problem of fake licenses. In 1992, the state instituted another requirement, that proof of a Social Security number had to be submitted with all new and renewal license transactions.

     The bureaucrats said that with these new security features, government agencies and private sector companies could now accept the new California drivers' license as proof of identity and residency without worry. Well guess what happened?

     Within a few months of the new license’s debut, street vendors in Los Angeles were selling excellent knockoffs of the real thing. In fact, many of the counterfeits are so good, even most police officers could not distinguish the real one from a fake without running a computer check.

     The news program 60 Minutes did an investigation of the fake identification "problem" in Southern California. Morley Safer was able to purchase all sorts of identification documents on the streets of Los Angeles in broad daylight.

     The fake ID market in Los Angeles is not a small affair. A drive through the correct part of town will find your slow-moving vehicle accosted by numerous young men and women offering "micas," Spanish for "cards," for sale. It is a custom order service.

     You tell the young entrepreneur what type of identity document you would like. You can choose from California drivers licenses, state identity cards, Social Security cards, military ID cards and green cards. A few sellers even provide birth certificates.

     Forget to bring a photograph? No problem. You will be directed to a nearby photo studio where the requisite photo will be taken. You tell the order taker what name, birth date and other information you want. He quotes a price. You can get excellent complete sets of identification for under a hundred dollars. You will be told to return in an hour to pick up your finished documents. Welcome to America!

     Perhaps the counterfeit route does not suit you, and you would prefer to obtain a license or identity card that will pass a computer check if you are pulled over by a police officer. This will cost you a little bit more, but it is easily available.

     At many motor vehicle offices in California, shady characters mill about the parking lot, searching for individuals who might need some "help" in obtaining a drivers license or state ID card. These individuals, for a fee of a few hundred dollars, will direct you to a certain motor vehicle department employee, who will process your application without you presenting any identification, or completing any written or driving tests. Many state licensed driving schools will provide you with the same "service." At the end of the day, the take is split with the employee at the motor vehicle department.

     The corruption at the California motor vehicle department is so bad, that 144 clerks have been fired for issuing false drivers licenses. Hundreds more are still under investigation. And this brings us to the paradox.

     California has the toughest laws of any state regarding the manufacture, sale and use of false identification. These are felonies in California, and the potential sentences can be stiff. But clearly, all of these laws, and technological improvements in the ID itself, have made no difference at all.

     The powers that be in California have forgotten some simple truths. The first is that whatever one man can do, another man can undo. The minute you issue a new license, the forgers will figure out how to duplicate it - especially if there is a large market for their wares. The second lesson the powers that be in California forgot is that Americans are still ambivalent about locking up people who are otherwise law abiding, except for the fact that they are using a piece of false identification.

     For years the federal government did not stop illegal immigration at the border, so California is reaping what it has sown. Some question whether California’s economy could continue to function if all illegal immigrants were deported tomorrow.

     The final lesson that California’s ID bureaucrats forgot is something that Loompanics readers have known for years: that identification is only paper. Have the Californian bureaucrats learned their lesson yet? It does not seem so. Recently, the California Department of Motor Vehicles announced a new drivers license designed, with a host of new features, to be "tamper proof." I give it three months before our entrepreneurs have their own version of the new "tamperproof" license. l

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