India's UID affecting the political dialogue elsewhere

The US political issue of whether or how best to confer some sort of legal status upon some individuals currently living within the United States without that legal status is getting a lot of attention. The United States's last attempt at sweeping immigration reform was in 1986. Since then, it's been baby steps.

The linked article provides more detail for why that might be, but the part that caught my eye is the basic formulation: "If India can execute a biometric project for over a billion people, it should be possible to apply biometrics to this, far less daunting, challenge."

For example:
Michael Barone commentary: Stars are aligning for a law on immigration that might work (Columbus Dispatch)

So what are the reasons to think such legislation would produce different results from those of the 1986 law?
...
[...S]omething feasible now that wasn’t back then: an identity card linked to a database with biometric identification. India is now creating such a system for its 1.2 billion people. Why can’t we do that for many fewer immigrants and visa holders?

India's UID project is giving the rest of the world confidence that long-neglected issues can be addressed through a combination of political will and new technology. I expect we'll be seeing a lot more examples from around the world.