Posted on 05/31/2009 6:50:27 AM PDT by Born Conservative
A prosecutor looking for illegal immigrants seized thousands of confidential tax records from an income tax preparer popular with Hispanics in this northern Colorado city.
The October seizures led to identity-theft and criminal-impersonation charges against more than 70 people, and prosecutors allege that as many as 1,300 suspected illegal immigrants were working using false or stolen Social Security numbers.
But the American Civil Liberties Union said the documents of as many as 4,900 people were seized, many of them legal residents, and that the probe was the "equivalent of a house-by-house search of innocent homeowners in order to find a suspect believed to be somewhere in the neighborhood."
Two judges have agreed, ruling that Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck had no probable cause to seize the records. Mr. Buck is appealing, however, and a ruling in his favor could open up a new avenue for prosecuting illegal immigrants.
The charges have been ironic for immigrants like Horacio Arturo Cervantes. The 42-year-old father of four from the Mexican state of Chihuahua said he had been honest about paying taxes, even though he was in the country illegally, because he was hoping for a path to U.S. citizenship.
Cervantes pleaded guilty to identity theft before the judges' rulings, and now faces deportation. He said he pleaded because he wanted to get out of jail and try his chances in immigration court.
"I feel like I'm up in the air, not knowing what's going on, just with a desire to stay here," he said in an interview in Spanish. His next court date is June 23.
Mr. Buck's investigation, dubbed Operation Numbers Game, marked the first time a prosecutor used tax records to charge illegal immigrants with identity theft, according to the ACLU and the Los Angeles-based National Immigration Law Center.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Given that wages for labor is a contract and given the constitutional protection against impairment of contracts, I don't think you can make the claim that wages earned through labor at a lawful occupation are illegal whatever your immigration status. I think that legal position that is taken is usually that working was inconsistent with your immigration status and therefore you can be deported (but so long as you paid your taxes your wages are yours).
The inviolability of contracts is another one of those bedrock constitutional protections that makes commerce possible (and this is a lot older than the constitution by the way). Again, folks may not like it, but the notion of having government administrators looking over your shoulder and disolving contracts and their obligations whenever they thought it convenient would create complete chaos.
But today what fraction of a person's working day is spent doing the productive essence of a job that is on balance productive of a good or service that strengthens the country, and what fraction is spent answering to administrative idiots whose only job is to interfere with productive work?
We are in economic trouble because we passed the tipping point on economic sustainability a decade or so ago, and have been allowed by the international community to borrow the money to buy stuff from the Chinese. Now the lending door slammed shut, and we have to make do with a much reduced production base. Fixing this requires an enormous restructuring to shift the balance from administration and enforcement back to productive enterprise. It is going to be painful. Idiots like this overreaching prosecutor are part of the problem and folks need to understand that.
Economic freedom is impossible without freedom from the interference of the state. I am not talking about ideal worlds here either. I am taking about things that have gotten way out of kilter in any practical fashion.
And you believe illegals are entitled to the same civil rights that we have?
At first I thought that I am not going to dignify that idiotic question with an answer, but then I thought better of it because I am worried sick about the understanding of our Constitution and what it means for a free people.
The Bill of Rights is not so much a statement of the rights of individuals as it is a restriction on the powers of the state. Imagine a world in which the state could do anything it wanted to get you into court on criminal charges and then the burden of proof was on you to demonstrate that you are a lawful citizen or resident before you could claim any of your other rights.
The State does not suddenly become all powerful if it can claim that you are an illegal anything. You want rights? We found that you claimed $38 for a meal on your tax return and you only paid $32 and here is the restaurant receipt showing the total with tip. So don't challenge the fact that we rubber hosed a confession out of you in violation of the 4th and 5th amendments. You have no rights. So what that no one was raped. You admitted to it.
No my friend, there is a lot you need to contemplate before you head down this road.
Those with knowledge of the Constitution will see it...which was my point. My statement was more towards the fact that most people can't/won't see it because of the immigration status of the person involved.
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The inviolability of contracts is another one of those bedrock constitutional protections that makes commerce possible (and this is a lot older than the constitution by the way).
Yep! The right to contract came over with us from England, and it's been with us ever since.
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Fixing this requires an enormous restructuring to shift the balance from administration and enforcement back to productive enterprise.
You're right, but it is NOT going to be a fun trip!
Here is a fact that most everyone already knows... I don't give a crap about your legal opinion that illegals found a loophole to get around the law!
I don't give a crap that you found 3 moonbat judges that agree with you.
I don't agree that the 4th amendment was written to protect illegals and the slime ball La Raza attorneys that defend them.
Make a note of it, there will be a quiz on that at the end of the semester!
Wheeeweeeeewwwweeeeeee!!!!!!!!!! Your doctors know you are out and off your meds?
WHAT? What in the Wide Wide World of Sports are you talking about. The government has been using the tax code as a prosecutorial tool since well before they jailed Al Capone with it. Capone was a thug and a mobster but to the best of my knowledge, he was at least in the country legally. And yes, It is high time that the citizens of this country stopped submitting to this tyranny.
They nailed Capone not for what he reported, but for what he didn’t report, i.e. tax evasion.
By the way, what part of this system is "voluntary". I'd love to know.
So, what you're saying is that Capone would have been better off not filing a tax return at all. Well, I would actually tend to agree with that. By the way, what's the penalty for not filing a return.
As in attaching your wages, putting a lean on your house and destroying your credit rating without spending one minute in court? YOU BET!
Now that you got me thinking about it Andy, have you ever tried to call the IRS. Personally, I’d rather chew one of my own fingers off then attempt it again.
Don't get me started because I have a similar view. But they are not quite the monster they used to be. Funny that it was Clinton that signed the bill that changed the balance of power on that, almost over Rubin's dead body, and not a conservative.
But it all starts from the same place, not recognizing that the Constitution is supposed to be a check on the powers of government. And that is my point.
No. But if he had reported his illegal income and paid tax on it, the principal prosecution mechanism against him would have been undermined.
The people that get stuck answering the phone are not any where near the problem. The mere fact that we have such a monstrosity as the IRS is.
Wouldn't that have also gone against his fifth amendment rights? It would seem that he was damned if he did and damned if he didn't.
Capone:
"Well, you see sir, I made five million dollars by selling illegal booze on the black market, but I just want to make sure that I pay my fair share of my taxes on it."
Judge:
"That's great Al. As long as we get our cut, your fine."
Yeah, like that's going to happen. See the problem there?
I stay out of tax policy arguments. I see no future in them. I believe in working on the demand side of the revenue problem.
Then we are absolutely on the same page. Arguing the nuances of the current American tax policy is like talking about which insane asylum you would like to check into. The crazy train is still destined to go off the rails.
Just read down the thread and caught this post. Frankly, I hardly know where to start. Let me just say this. The US government is theoretically YOU bonehead! If the reality of the situation is otherwise, you have no one but yourself to blame. Responsibility. An alien concept in government schools.
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