Posted on 05/16/2008 7:30:31 PM PDT by neverdem
Identity theft in America goes hand and hand with illegal immigration.
As everyone knows, America is experiencing an epidemic of identity theft. In the last five years alone, complaints to the Federal Trade Commission from U.S. residents who have had their identity stolen have skyrocketed 60 percent, to 258,427 in 2007—one-third of all consumer fraud complaints that the commission receives. What’s less well understood, however, is how illegal immigration is helping to fuel this rash of crime. Seeking access to jobs, credit, and driver’s licenses, many undocumented aliens are using the personal data of real Americans on forged documents. The immigrants’ identity theft has become so pervasive that the need to combat it is “a disturbing front in the war against illegal immigration,” according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The FTC’s latest statistics help show why. The top five states in terms of reported identity theft in 2007 all have large immigrant populations—the border states of Arizona, California, and Texas, as well as Florida and Nevada. People who pilfer legitimate identities in these states are much more likely than in other parts of the country to use them to gain employment unlawfully—the most common reason that illegal aliens steal personal information. In Arizona, for instance, 36 percent of all identity theft is for employment purposes, compared with only 5 percent in Maine, a state with far fewer illegal aliens. “To many law enforcement leaders in Arizona, this suggests that Arizona’s identity-theft epidemic is directly linked to the problem of illegal immigration,” says a recent report by Identity Theft 911, an Arizona company that helps businesses and individuals protect themselves.
Government investigations have only begun to uncover the extent of the crime wave. When ICE agents raided six Swift meat-processing plants in December 2006, they found widespread evidence of fraud involving the use of real people’s identities; the feds eventually charged 148 illegal aliens in the case with crimes related to identity theft. In the first year and a half after Arizona created a special unit to deal with identity theft, investigators said that they were able to purchase more than 1,000 phony documents that made use of real people’s identities. A so-called three-pack—a Social Security card, a driver’s license, and a permanent-resident card—costs on average just $160 in the state.
Government statistics probably grossly underestimate the size of the problem. Many local police departments don’t track identity theft accurately, and the FTC only reports complaints that it receives. By combining data on complaints with FTC consumer surveys—which show that far more people have had their identity stolen than report it—Identity Theft 911 estimates that in Arizona alone, some 1.57 million people, or a quarter of the state’s population, have been victims over the last six years. About one-fifth are children—whose Social Security numbers are especially valuable targets, since the kids usually aren’t employed, making discovery of the fraud less likely. “We just don’t know how they’re getting all this information on minors,” says Maryann McKessy, bureau chief for fraud and identity-theft enforcement in the Maricopa County attorney general’s office.
One disturbing theory: health-care employees with access to children’s files are working for organized gangs that trade in illegal documents and are willing to pay richly for the data. “We have a major problem with workers in medical offices stealing patients’ identities, selling them and making a direct profit,” Sergeant James Bracke of the Phoenix Police Department told authors of the Arizona report. The gangs can afford these bribes because identity theft has become such a big business. In Phoenix, “coyotes,” the smugglers who lead illegal immigrants over our borders, have created a network of phony-document producers and safe houses where undocumented workers can wait until they get their fraudulent papers.
Americans who have their identity stolen by these gangs are in for major headaches. Among the complaints filed with the FTC is that of a Texas man arrested for a crime committed by an illegal alien who had filched his identity. In another case, highlighted by Nevada senator John Ensign in last year’s immigration-reform debate in Congress, the Internal Revenue Service hit a woman with a $1 million back-tax bill, even though she was a stay-at-home mom. An investigation later found that 218 illegal aliens were using her Social Security number. A Los Angeles police detective—who, ironically, worked in the department’s fraud bureau—was unable to buy a home because of bills piled up by an illegal immigrant who stole his Social Security number to gain employment at a processing plant. Then the IRS served the cop with a bill for $40,000 in back taxes; when he protested, the agency threatened to send his case to collection. Other legal residents have had their unemployment claims or workers’ compensation cases rejected after government records showed that someone with their Social Security number was working.
Despite all this, efforts to crack down on identity theft have proved controversial. Ensign offered an amendment to last year’s immigration-reform bill that would have barred illegals from Social Security benefits if they obtained work using stolen identities, but the amendment went down to defeat after critics complained that it was unfair to refuse benefit payments to those who had contributed to the Social Security system, even if they did so under a false identity. Ultimately, the immigration bill itself was defeated, in part because of controversy over its provisions to offer amnesty to illegal aliens, including those who might have stolen identities.
Frustrated by what some see as a tepid federal response, local officials in the hardest-hit areas have stepped up antitheft efforts. In Arizona, a new law makes it a felony to use the identity of another person to obtain a job. Local law enforcement agencies, like the Maricopa County attorney general’s office and the Phoenix Police Department, have expanded their fraud units. Even private businesses have gotten into the fight. Last year, the Arizona offices of A. G. Edwards, the national brokerage firm, held “community shred-a-thons” to give people a chance to destroy outdated financial records and other documents that might provide information to identity-theft gangs.
But many local law enforcement agencies still don’t treat the theft as a serious crime. Until they do, Americans who have had their identity stolen will pay the price in time, stress, and expensive legal bills.
Steven Malanga is senior editor of City Journal and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. He is the author of The New New Left, a collection of his City Journal essays.
Just stealing the identities Americans citizens won’t steal.
Not true. The fact is, is identity theft is out of control, and very difficult, and time consuming to actually catch and prosecute. Paper trails can lead to dead ends, branch off like tree limbs etc. The illegal alien invasion has seriously escalated these types of crimes.
One can only guess what upwards of 40 million illegals have done to our electoral process.
Yet Juan McStain wants to make them citizens.
The identities stolen to gain employment belong to poor individuals and have no value to commit financial fraud. Often, the identity stolen is that of a green card holder.
Probably all the meat processors in the US have ID theft rings operating within the business. The theft ring bribes a clerk working in the human resources dept to mine the ex-employee files for identities that have previously been approved by basic pilot/EEV.
...our local bank got hit with a rash of bogus payroll checks late last Fall...they came from illegal farm workers but the checks themselves were expertly counterfeited down in Mexico, then shipped up here....crime and drunk driving have been on the increase since local farmers started using Mexicans.
BS, illegal is illegal, doing either should be good for five years in jail.
My social was used for an illegal alien to go to college, ironically at the same school I was going to. They got there first and I had to prove I was me.
It’s still identity theft, and it’s still a crime.
May I ask how you had to prove yourself, and what happened to the criminal?
Just had to show picture ID and my original social security card to match. Apparently the criminal didn’t have to or something. Didn’t ever find out what happened to the criminal, other then his or her college work was nullified.
Was four years ago and haven’t seen any funky loan bills or anything else so everything got fixed.
Well, you seem to be another one without a clue.
So these poor people only use it to work huh?
Want nightmares? You should have a conversation with someone that has had their ID stolen by an illegal alien
Crime has increased dramatically due to millions entering this country illegally. In addition, it has created the biggest, most wide spread counterfeit document industry this country has ever seen.
Tens of thousands of illegals are now working full time in this newly expanded industry, causing absolute financial chaos for the unsuspecting.
When illegal aliens destroys the victims credit rating who endures the horrendous headaches that come with it?
It's happening now *thousands* of times a day.
The fraud is never ending, and illegal aliens are in it up to their necks.
That’s always good to know.
Actually, I’m thinking about trying to steal the identity of an illegal. I could use free health care. /s
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There was a guy in Texas recently (a citizen) that actually impersonated an illegal alien to avoid criminal charges.
No joke.
Are there any among us that fail to understand, that you cannot standby and allow millions to enter this country illegally without it compromising and undermining our entire system at every level?
A government that will not enforce it's legitimate sovereign borders will itself eventually become illegitimate.
Now I know why I always see poor Mexicans driving around brand new $30,000+ trucks.
I’d love to punch that idiot in the face.
Talk about a gangbang.
There is a very big difference between identity theft to work and identity theft to commit financial fraud.
BS, illegal is illegal, doing either should be good for five years in jail.”
Jail is a step up for many illegal intruders. Give them to Sheriff Arpaio in Arizona. He knows what to do with criminals.
Now I know why I always see poor Mexicans driving around brand new $30,000+ trucks.”
Are you willing to bet that they also don’t have insurance?
Her in Nevada, over 30% of my vehicle insurance premiums are because of UNINSURED drivers.
I live in South Carolina and most of the tags read North Carolina. Why the hell would an illegal need insurance?
SSA knows all of this and could stop it; they choose not to because this is 'free money' -- free in the aspect that there are no future obligations tied to it....it's just like hitting the lottery to them and they don't give a damn.
Show me where identity theft for work is being used for financial fraud.
And here you are again, doing your level best to defend the indefensible. This time illegal alien identity theft. Well, if nothing else, this should establish your eligibility for the next housecleaning.
Good going.
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