elucidator, that’s exactly right. (And adaher, excellent post as well). I just taught my geopolitics class about James Scott’s book Seeing Like a State, which is partly about how governments always have tried (naturally) to build a standardized inventory of the people living within their borders (and also a standardized inventory of land parcels, and more).
(One of the ironies of neoliberalism is that, while it professes to remove the State from the affairs of corporations and individuals, with regard to land ownership and more, in reality it tends to increase State supervision).
Anyway, I, too, find it odd that many Republicans are reluctant to bring so many individuals into the light of accountability to the State. In a weird way, by accident for once they are practicing what they preach – but just until an undocumented person happens to get pulled over for speeding or the like; then, hey, they’re suddenly all for State involvement.