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Samuel Marin said he was trying to get a Social Security card so he could work to support his family

12/10/05
By Lauren Gregory, Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer
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A federal judge on Friday ordered deportation for a Mexican national who has admitted to using a $2,000 bribe and a counterfeit California birth certificate in an attempt to obtain a Social Security card in July.

Samuel Marin, 30, of 8 Franklin St. in Rome, pleaded guilty to the offense in September. He has been living illegally in the United States for the past 11 years.

At his sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court in Rome on Friday, Marin apologized for his actions through an interpreter before bursting into tears. “Please have mercy on me,� he said. “My children need me.�

It is these children, defense attorney Joseph Baldwin then told U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy, that inspired Marin’s desperate act. “All he wanted to do was work, support his family,� Baldwin said.

According to Baldwin, Marin was in the position of losing his job and mistakenly believed he could purchase a Social Security card illegally to save it.

“There are some cultural issues there,� Baldwin said. “That’s how business is done in Mexico.� Prosecutor Paul Jones disagreed, telling Murphy that Marin “has lived here a long time and knows how things work in this country.�

But ultimately Murphy announced he would remain sensitive to Marin’s background as well as to his potentially fatal heart condition. Rather than remain within federal sentencing guidelines of 10 to 16 months in prison, Murphy said he would sentence Marin “for what he is and not based on statistics.�

As a result, Marin’s sentence constitutes only the 4½ months he has already served plus an immediate transfer into immigration services custody for deportation to Mexico.