Identity Theft
Illegal Aliens Stealing Identities
By Daniel Muniz

The massive raid on the Swift & Co. meat packing plants in six states by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency vividly illustrates the growing problem of identity theft by illegal aliens. ICE agents arrested nearly 1,300 illegal aliens who were using someone else’s identity, especially their social security numbers, as a means of securing and maintaining employment in this country.

However, what happened at the highly publicized meat packing plant raids is not an isolated incident. Identity theft by illegal aliens for employment is rampant throughout the country.

Employers are required to obtain personal information about an employee but they have absolutely no way to verify how accurate such information really is. Performing a criminal background check as well as checking a credit report might reveal inconsistencies but that requires effort and money. And after all, most illegal aliens are pursuing the low wage, dirty jobs in which many employers are not inclined to ask any questions.

So in other words, all what an illegal alien really needs is just valid identification and a social security number and that’s it. It doesn’t matter how he or she gets them, just as long as they have the IDs when they are required to present them. As a result, this situation fuels the enormous surge of identity theft because the illegal immigrants know that these kinds of employers are not going to do much else in verifying their true identity.

In addition, employers are legally off the hook. Although such an assertion is a sham but as long as companies are presented with what appears to be valid identification and a social security number, they can claim that they never knowingly hired any illegal aliens whatsoever. From their point of view, finding illegal aliens is the federal government’s job, not theirs. And determining whether or not identification and social security numbers actually belongs to the people they hire is also not their job.

Consequently, employers can wash their hands from hiring people who are in this country illegally. And they have done so for the past couple of decades.

However, what is outrageous is that the public has the perception that identity theft done by illegal immigrants is nothing more than a victimless crime. After all, illegal aliens are only here to find jobs and they aren’t hurting anybody. And that is the viewpoint that is often promoted by their supporters.

But people are hurt.

There are severe consequences experienced by the victims who have had their identities stolen and misused. However, to add insult to injury, our government and especially the press, is almost indifferent to the problems that are caused by identity theft. The media sure loves to talk about the plight of illegal immigrants but they are almost silent about the devastation they inflict on our ordinary citizens.

In fact, anyone can be socked with belligerent demands from the IRS to pay taxes on undeclared wages from all the people who are using their name and social security number. And because of the influx of millions of illegal aliens, stealing and selling identities is now very lucrative. It is no longer uncommon for someone’s identity to be sold off to dozens or even to hundreds of people who need new identification.

To compound the problem, logic and common sense has absolutely no value to the IRS. This agency doesn’t care if your identity is simultaneously being used in 99 full time jobs; they still want their taxes. And it just doesn’t stop there. Some illegal aliens also claim an outrageous number of deductions on their W-2 forms and then go on to ruin the victim’s credit while leaving behind an enormous pile of unpaid bills.

But what is worse is when the victims do inform the federal agencies, such as the FTC, IRS, and the Social Security Administration, about the fraudulent use of their personal information. The government really doesn’t care about what is going on. In fact, more often than not, the burden of proof is on the victim. And what is truly outrageous is that after these governmental agencies have been notified of this abuse for years yet they still allow the illegal aliens to continue to use these false identities for an indefinite amount of time.

We have a government that is more than willing spring to action to protect us from second-hand smoke, trans-fat, carbon dioxide, obesity, and anything else that they deem to be bad to our health and to the environment but they are barely willing to lift a finger when it comes to our financial lives and our credit being ruined by identity theft.

It is really frustrating to accept the irony that the government is doing everything it can provide to education, health care, in-state college tuition, and housing to illegal aliens yet they are unwilling to do hardly anything at all to protect its own citizens from this crime.

What is really needed is congressional action.

Laws have to be put into place that actually allows communication between federal agencies when dubious activity is suspected so that action can be immediately taken. It is ridiculous to wait years down the road when the theft finally manifests itself into a really big problem for a citizen.

Furthermore, the falsification of identities is wrong and should be treated as a serious federal crime. That means that the perpetrators need to be locked up instead of being deported. People won’t stop committing these crimes until they face very serious consequences like jail time.

For this issue, it is irrelevant on what the opinions are about illegal immigration. Identity theft for the purpose of securing employment is wrong and should be treated as such.

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