Thread: CO - Judge Puts Halt to ID Theft Inquiry Focusing on Imm.

Judge Puts Halt to ID Theft Inquiry Focusing on Immigrants
By DAN FROSCH
Published: March 11, 2009

DENVER — An identify theft investigation in northern Colorado that has implicated more than 1,000 people suspected of being illegal immigrants has now been halted by a judge until he decides whether tactics used by the authorities were legal.

The judge, James H. Hiatt of State District Court, ordered Weld County officials on Tuesday to hand over documents seized during a search of a tax preparer’s office last October. Sheriff’s investigators and the local district attorney have been using the tax documents as the basis for arrests on charges involving fraudulent Social Security numbers, commonly presented by illegal immigrants to get work.

Judge Hiatt’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado against Weld County’s district attorney, Kenneth R. Buck, and its sheriff, John Cooke, who together undertook the investigation.

The civil liberties union claims that the authorities violated the privacy rights of thousands of taxpayers when they seized the documents from the tax preparer, Amalia’s Translation and Tax Services, in Greeley.

Judge Hiatt is to decide next month whether the authorities acted legally. In the meantime, the ruling Tuesday “is certainly a sign that the judge understood our arguments regarding the right to privacy and the potential harm that flows from this massive and illegal fishing expedition,â€

The civil liberties union claims that the authorities violated the privacy rights of thousands of taxpayers when they seized the documents from the tax preparer, Amalia’s Translation and Tax Services, in Greeley.


umm they are illegal aliens using fake or stolen Numbers
how can any privacy be violated here.
The people who were violated are the people with these VALID, REAL SS#

What about our rights to be protected from tax cheaters?