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  1. #1
    Super Moderator Newmexican's Avatar
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    1,700 illegals tried to pass fake documents in the past mont

    http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/g ... 12,00.html
    Phony papers bury state DMV offices
    1,700 illegals tried to pass fake documents in the past month

    Shantel Hogan- Worrell, with her son, Elijah Evans, 2, applies for Medicaid assistance in an office building on Federal Boulevard. Stricter state immigration laws have led some people who are in the country illegally to use fraudulent documents to try to beat the system, state officials say. But the new rules also increase the red tape for people who are in the country legally.
    STORY TOOLS

    By April M. Washington, Rocky Mountain News
    September 5, 2006
    More than 1,700 illegal immigrants have been caught attempting to pass fake documents at state driver's licenses offices in the first month after a tough immigration law went into effect, according to a state official.
    "We're seeing evidence of individuals trying to slip through the cracks," said Michael Cooke, executive director of the Colorado Department of Revenue.

    Colorado's new anti-illegal immigration laws passed by the legislature this summer set up a strict identification check meant to deny most public services to undocumented adult immigrants.

    The Division of Motor Vehicles is on the front line of those checks.

    As residents come into DMV offices to get state ID cards or driver's licenses, they're asked to present birth certificates and immigration papers such as passports and "green cards" to prove they are in the United States legally.

    Those documents are then run through the federal SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification of Entitlements) system to verify the applicant's legal immigration status.

    In the past month, about 2,100 applicants at DMV were told their documents needed further investigation. Of those, 177 met with investigators and were cleared as legal residents of Colorado. But more than 1,700 cases are pending.

    Cooke believes DMV will never see those applicants again because they know their documents are phony.

    "We're asking them to go to our investigative unit so we can look into the matter, and we're not hearing back from them," Cooke said.

    The 1,700-plus names have been sent to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, she said.

    Market for birth certificates

    So far, DMV offices have also caught about 150 people attempting to use fraudulent birth certificates, and that number is climbing.

    Most of the certificates were authentic, but the person presenting the document was not the individual named on the certificate, Cooke said.

    "We always get a few fraudulent documents here and there, but to see that many since Aug. 1 was of great concern," she said. "It appears that there is a market for birth certificates since our new law went into effect."

    Because of the prevalence of fraudulent birth certificates, Cooke last week issued a ruling that local and state agencies no longer will accept birth certificates as proof of citizenship when a person comes in seeking benefits. (DMV, however, still accepts birth certificates.)

    It was the third time in a month the ID requirements were changed.

    When the new law was enacted, it said anyone who wanted to get public benefits had to have one of four required forms of identification: a Colorado driver's license or state ID, a Merchant Mariner card or an American Indian tribal document.

    But soon after, Cooke relaxed those requirements and issued new temporary ones that were supposed to be effective until March. Under them, people could get benefits by showing any number of documents, including a birth certificate, a valid naturalization certificate or citizenship certificate, a court-issued adoption order, or a valid driver's license or ID with the applicant's photo issued by one of 34 states.

    Last week, Cooke excluded birth certificates.

    Confusion is rampant.

    "The ink isn't even dried on many of these new laws and our folks at the local level are still scratching their heads, trying to figure out the impact and trying to figure out who is ultimately responsible for enforcement of the new laws," said Sam Mamet, executive director of the Colorado Municipal League.

    At the Denver Department of Human Services Call Center, the volume increased from 32,000 calls in June to 38,000 in August, with many people with green cards and expired passports asking for information about the new laws.

    Also, the cost to help people obtain and pay for birth certificates to get a state ID card has doubled to $1,000 per month. That amount is expected to double again by year's end, said Sue Cobb, agency spokeswoman.

    At the department's headquarters at 1200 Federal Blvd., Denver has set up a help desk and has hired a bilingual public notary to verify legal documents and to notarize affidavits.

    Nonprofits affected

    "The new law is impacting many folks who are here legally," Cobb said. "For example, we had a woman from Somalia come in to get benefits for her two kids, but their last name was different from hers. So we had to make her prove the children were hers."

    House Bill 1023 also affects nonprofit organizations that receive government funds through state grants, which sponsors had not expected when the bill was approved by state lawmakers.

    Charley Shimanski, president and CEO of the Colorado Nonprofit Association, said nonprofits that receive government funds now must do a three-step ID verification process for program applicants.

    The widespread confusion over how to comply with the laws has spurred the organization to set up a workshop with a panel of government officials to explain the laws.

    That event is scheduled for Sept. 18 at the Jones Theater downtown.

    Mamet said his organization, business groups and several cities would likely push legislation next year to repeal some of the nearly two dozen new immigration laws, particularly those that create undue hardship.
    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  2. #2

    Join Date
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    do you have the direct link to this article? i would like to share it with some officials here. the link you have above is for the photo, not the article. thanks!
    "Remember the Alamo!"

  3. #3

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    Yep, I'd like to send the link to my state rep & senator.

    I may have to move back to Colorado if they keep moving
    in this direction.

  4. #4
    Super Moderator Newmexican's Avatar
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    Sorry guys, I have fixed the link.
    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  5. #5

    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by Newmexican
    Sorry guys, I have fixed the link.
    thank you newmexican! this is a beneficial article for pushing local/state proposals.
    "Remember the Alamo!"

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