Identity Theft is a Serious Immigration Issue

[Skippy]

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/ho ... ?id=426195

Exclusive: Identity Theft is a Serious Immigration Issue
Mike Cutler
Author: Mike Cutler
Source: The Family Security Foundation, Inc.
Date: November 20, 2006

With multiple threats emanating from immigration and border control issues that are clearly out of control, FSM Contributing Editor Mike Cutler warns us of only one of them: identity theft. Coming soon to a town near you.

Illegal immigration is not about Hispanics, it is about the law. When I was an INS special agent I often investigated and arrested illegal aliens from a wide variety of countries that were not located in Latin America. So to portray immigration law enforcement as purely an Hispanic issue denies the reality of the immigration situation in America.

Aliens fall into two broad categories: those who lawfully are admitted into the United States, and those who enter the United States illegally by running our nation's borders, by stowing away on a vessel, by using false identity documents, or who, after lawfully entering our country, subsequently violate the terms under which they are admitted.

These violations can generally be thought of as occurring in three broad categories. Aliens become deportable when they are admitted as non-immigrants, that is to say that they are given a limited period of time in which to remain in the United States to be tourists, students or other such temporary visitors and then they overstay the period for which they were authorized to remain in the United States. Aliens also become illegal aliens when they accept unauthorized employment. The origins of this aspect of immigration law enforcement was created to protect United States citizens and aliens (who’d been admitted as resident aliens and given green cards), from losing their jobs to aliens who had no right to work in the United States. In fact, it was the United States Department of Labor that had originally enforced the immigration laws out of a concern for the well-being of our nation's citizens. (Imagine that concept!) Finally, aliens, including resident aliens, become deportable when they are convicted of committing a variety of serious crimes. Again, this is obviously an effort to safeguard citizens and others who are in the United States from those aliens who would create a dangerous situation in our country.

Identity theft is the fastest growing white collar crime in the United States today. It is committed often to circumvent the provisions of the immigration laws that make it a crime for employers knowingly to hire illegal aliens. It is not a victimless crime as anyone who has had this happen to them would certainly attest.

The issue of the use of false identity documents or stolen identities raises an issue that I have raised at a number of Congressional hearings when I have been called as a witness. It is the issue of the guest worker amnesty program that the President is eager to implement for many millions of illegal aliens. There is absolutely no way that the immigration bureaucracy could effectively determine the true identity of so many aliens who, in many cases, have already established false identities for themselves in the United States. To provide illegal aliens with official identity documents in names of unknown and unknowable authenticity is to create a national security nightmare for our nation. I have often said that false security is worse than no security. When an illegal alien has no official identity documents he is less able to embed himself in the community in which he lives. If our government were to provide millions of illegal and undocumented aliens with official identity documents that could be used to obtain legitimate Social Security Cards, driver's licenses, credit cards and even library cards, millions of illegal aliens will have been provided with the opportunity to blend into our country, including criminals and terrorists who use multiple identities the way a chameleon uses changes in coloration as camouflage in order to blend into his surroundings.

The reality is that unless we are willing to declare that anyone born on the planet Earth should be declared a citizen of the United States, then our nation needs to effectively secure its borders and the immigration system. There is a fear of raids and this is not a bad thing, but actually a positive effective of the law enforcement actions taken by the special agents of ICE, assisted by the local police. That fear of getting caught and punished is at the root of all law enforcement activities and is known as deterrence. It has been said, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." When law enforcement is able to deter illegal conduct, the result is that ounce of prevention. Illegal aliens would not be charging across our nation's borders and otherwise entering our country in violation of law if they felt that there was a good chance that they would be detected and prosecuted and/or removed from the United States for violating our nation's borders and immigration laws.

It is not coincidental that there are more illegal aliens present in the United States today than at any other time in the history of our nation. There are two reasons for this. First of all, the Amnesty of 1986 sent out a very dangerous message to people all over the world. The message was clear; if you violate the immigration laws of the United States and manage to hide long enough, not a difficult prospect given the virtually nonexistent resources available at the agencies involved in the enforcement of the immigration laws, then you too will ultimately receive lawful status for violating the laws. Second, the President and many Democrats in Congress have repeatedly made a mockery of the immigration laws and our borders.

There are billions of people inhabiting our planet who live in abject poverty, indeed squalor. Our nation cannot invite all of these people to come to the United States to seek a better life. That sort of effort would end disastrously! It is time for our nation to encourage other nations, especially those that send us the greatest number of illegal aliens, to do a far better job of providing economic opportunities for their citizens to live better lives within their own countries. Mexico is a case in point. Mexico is the wealthiest nation in all of Latin America, yet an estimated 10% of Mexico's citizens live in the United States and send money back to Mexico. Those remittances are the greatest source of income for the Mexican economy. This is not acceptable.

The United States has an obligation to its own citizens to provide secure borders and an immigration system that possesses true integrity, especially as we wage a war on terror and more and more violent gang members enter the United States in increasing numbers, creating a nightmare scenario for the citizens of the United States.

Lead, follow or get out of the way!

[swatchick]

Identity theft is a big issue as many purses are stolen in strong armed robberies. It is a well known fact most people don't carry a lot of cash anymore. I have reason to believe that some of those people go on to sell the ID to illegals. I have told people on numerous occassions not to keep your birth certificate and SSN in your purse or wallet. I avoid keeping more than one credit card in my purse or my driver's license as that way they would have an address. This time of year is the worse for theft and we all must be vigilent.

[Newmexican]

Good advice from swatchick.