http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/61855

Forged Working Papers is Bustling Business in Queens

by Daniela Gerson
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NEW YORK, NY July 04, 2006 —There’s lots of talk about 'illegal' immigrants who’ve come into this country to find work. But in order to get that work most have to buy phony immigration papers to show an employer. In New York City the place to buy an ID is Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. Last December the Queens DA charged 21 people with operating a $1-million a year fraudulent document enterprise. Reporter Daniela Gerson has this follow up.

REPORTER: Raphael had just bought a taco, and was looking forward to his cousin’s party that night, when he was arrested on the block where he sold fake ids.

RAPHAEL: The day what they arrest me my cell phone is ring, ring, ring because everyone is call me, yeah, that’s crazy too.

REPORTER: Now, six months into a one-year sentence at Rikers, 23-year-old Raphael agreed to speak from jail. He asked that his name be changed because he is afraid of the response from other members of the document ring.

RAPHAEL: We make a lot of papers every day, a lot of papers. 400, 500 Social Security a day, everyday.

REPORTER: That’s hundreds of thousands of fake IDs a year. Illegal immigrants, he said, traveled from as far away as North Carolina and Massachusetts to buy forged documents. The top sellers were Social Security and permanent resident cards, better known as green cards.

RAPHAEL: My customers call me and they say, “I need the papers for my cousin or my brother, whoever.” We are busy all days, Saturday, Sunday. That’s the craziest day over there because all day is busy. You can’t stop, you can’t eat that day.

REPORTER: Three days after Raphael’s arrest, the Queens’ District Attorney, Richard Brown, joined representatives of the NYPD gangs unit, Department of Motor Vehicles, Department of Homeland Security, and Social Security Administration, to announce the dismantling of a major fraudulent document enterprise.

BROWN: It was a 19-month investigation. We did court authorized wiretaps, video surveillance, we intercepted literally thousands of telephone calls, we executed a number of search warrants, and we seized some 5,000 or so forged government documents.

REPORTER: He said that by using the bogus papers thousands of immigrants had assumed false identities, obtaining benefits, operating motor vehicles, and opening lines of credit. Moreover, the District Attorney warned, terrorists could easily access the widespread black market.

BROWN: Roosevelt Avenue became known as the epicenter if you will of fraudulent identification documents. Prices are not very extraordinary. A resident alien card costs $60 and the quality of the work product of these mills is generally pretty good, they’re not easy to spot.

REPORTER: Raphael, intelligent and soft spoken, produced thousands of them. But the first time he visited Roosevelt Avenue, he went to buy.

RAPHAEL: That day I’m lost, I didn’t know nothing.

REPORTER: Then 19, he had been smuggled across the Arizona desert just a week before. His older brother, who had moved to New York earlier, directed him to a street seller on Roosevelt Avenue.

RAPHAEL: I say, “You sell the papers?” He say, “Yes, you want?” I say, “Yeah I need, I need for my job.” He say, “okay, $50” and one hour later he give me the papers I say, “Wow, that’s too fast.”

REPORTER: Using his new forged documents, he got two jobs – mornings cooking at an Italian restaurant in Chelsea and afternoons at a midtown catering company. For a year he earned about $400 a week, with taxes deducted for an invented Social Security number. On a morning he had off from work he was hanging out on Roosevelt Avenue, when a friend proposed a much more lucrative job.

RAPHAEL: He tell me, “You want to work, you want to make money?” I say, “Yeah, I want to make money but I’m so scared, you know.” And he say, “No, just work one day and if you like it you stay, and if you don’t like it you can home.” And then I work that day I like it because I make a lot of money. That day I make like $500 for one day.

REPORTER: After a few months as a street seller, plying documents on a busy Jackson Heights corner, Raphael was promoted to the office. There, he was taught to make fake IDs on a computer, scanning in photos, and typing in names and birthdates.

RAPHAEL: “Just give me the photo the name, last name, and date of birth.” That’s it.

REPORTER: He soon could produce a card in 10 minutes flat, picking Social Security numbers from thin air.

RAPHAEL: It’s nine numbers and that’s it, nine numbers.

REPORTER: Raphael and 15 of his fellow dealers pleaded guilty to felony charges. Although the enterprise’s boss, Esteban Chaves, is still at large, the Queens DA Richard Brown declared the investigation a success.

BROWN: It’s very difficult to get into these mills and to get to the higher ups to some extent because of the number of people through whose hands each one of these phony documents goes. But this was certainly a major takedown and sent a clear message that this would not be tolerated.

REPORTER: But on the streets of Jackson Heights, the open-air market in fraudulent documents is bustling. On a recent afternoon, three Mexican men in their early 20s, in t-shirts and cell phones bulging from their jean pockets, blended into the crowd of immigrants. In plain sight they sold cards under the 7 train, a few blocks from the corner where Raphael once sold.

SELLERS: Spanish

REPORTER: Speaking with little hesitation into a microphone, with an eye out for customers, they shared their simple recipe for a sale.

SELLERS: Social o micas, nada mas

REPORTER: They offer social, for social security cards or micas, slang for green card. Immigrants passing by would sometimes approach them with an inquiring look. Other times they would catch their customer’s attention with a hushed offer. While these street sellers know they are breaking the law, they make the case that they are not doing anything morally wrong.

SELLERS: Es algo illegal, pero uno esta ayudando a la gente.

REPORTER: It’s something illegal but it’s helping the people, they say. We don’t rob, we don’t deal drugs. As for providing the DA’s allegation they are providing documents to terrorists, they quickly dismiss the threat.

SELLERS: Puro Hispano

REPORTER: Pure Hispanic, one responds, and I‘ve never heard of a Hispanic terrorist.

A few miles away, Raphael is biding his time at Riker’s and looking forward to the day when he will be released and deported to Mexico. It’s been a lonely six months. None of his fellow dealers have visited him, but he did not need to be told he’s been replaced.

RAPHAEL: The people need the papers. They don’t care if I’m in jail. The people need it, somebody need to make it. I’m sure somebody’s making it right now.

REPORTER: President Bush recently announced the launch of task forces in 11 major U.S. cities, including New York, to dismantle criminal rings that are producing fake documents. For WNYC, I’m Daniela Gerson