President Bush’s plan to require tamper-proof, biometric identification cards for guest workers raises the specter of a National ID card, a notion Americans have long rejected based on civil liberty objections, according to several experts.

Bush’s plan and most Senate immigration reform proposals would limit the identification cards to those new workers entering the country legally, but last December the House of Representatives passed a bill that would require U.S. citizens and immigrants seeking jobs to carry electronically readable Social Security cards with photo identification.