In Tuesday’s Examiner, a spokesman for the tax-supported CASA of Maryland admitted that it has handed out more than 10,000 “identification cards” to immigrants in Montgomery County without even so much as requiring proof of residency. As one arrival from El Salvador told Examiner reporters Kathleen Miller and Dena Levitz, “At least it’s something to show who you are.”

But these phony IDs do nothing of the sort. The only thing they show is that the people holding them talked to CASA. Why does CASA — which is partially funded by Montgomery County’s government — hand out IDs that look official but have no legal force? Because, as CASA officials freely admit, the cards are used to bypass federal homeland security rules requiring proof of identity for banking transactions. The spurious IDs issued by CASA are also used to evade county-required proof of residency to enroll children in school or collect other county benefits.