Thread: OR: Illegal workers turn to ID theft

Illegal workers turn to ID theft
Fallout from raids - When fakes won't cut it, undocumented immigrants use other people's SSNs
Sunday, July 01, 2007
GOSIA WOZNIACKA

The Oregonian
Fictitious Social Security numbers and green cards are cheap and widely available, and getting them is the first step for many undocumented immigrants arriving in Oregon.

But workers and federal officials say increased immigration enforcement -- such as June's raid at the Fresh Del Monte Produce plant in North Portland and the arrests of 167 workers -- has pushed some undocumented workers to shift from forgery to identity theft.

"Enforcement is deterring people, but it's also having another effect," said Kevin Sibley, unit chief for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's work site enforcement. "Aliens are finding it more difficult to find jobs using the traditional counterfeit documents. So they're willing to commit the extra step to beat the system and get a job. The next step is using someone else's identity."

During one stretch last year, American Staffing Resources -- which supplied temporary workers to the Fresh Del Monte plant -- employed 596 workers there, of whom 463, about 78 percent, were using someone else's Social Security number, according to a federal search warrant affidavit. Only 48 employees had valid, matching Social Security numbers.

This year, the Social Security numbers used by 184 American Staffing workers at the plant did not belong to them. Seven belonged to elderly people, about 20 to children, and 29 to people who had died, according to the affidavit.

Federal authorities attribute the proliferation of fraudulent documents to a rise in multinational criminal organizations branching out into the documents market and the misuse of Social Security numbers by employees.

Last year, the rise of counterfeit documents and identity theft for employment purposes prompted the ICE to create Document and Benefit Fraud Task Forces in 11 U.S. cities. Six more cities were added in April. But every ICE office, including the one in Portland, is mandated to initiate investigations that combat the manufacture, sale and use of counterfeit and genuine documents, said James Spero, chief of the ICE's Identity and Benefit Fraud unit.

"It's a major problem," Spero said. "We have document vending and manufacturing investigations open in every major U.S. city. If there is a need, then there are vendors who will supply the documents."

Worker gets caught

For five years, Marina, an undocumented Mexican who lives in Gresham, used a fictitious Social Security number and green card to work at a Portland food-manufacturing factory. The factory gave her health insurance, paid vacations, bonuses and sick days -- stability and benefits that are rare in the world of undocumented laborers.

Marina, 38 -- who for fear of being deported asked that her last name not be used by The Oregonian -- said she worked hard to raise her two U.S.-born sons. Every 15 days, she wired money to Mexico to help support her three other children, whom she has not seen in more than 10 years.

But when the factory changed hands in 2003, the new owners checked workers' documents. They told Marina that she had a year to get hers in order. When she did not, they fired her. Marina said they told her that she could get her job back if she bought bona fide papers belonging to a U.S. citizen.

Marina decided against it. But a month later, she was still without a job.

"I looked everywhere, and there was always the problem with (fictitious) papers," she said. "I had to send money to my children (in Mexico). I really needed a job, and I was starting to despair."

An acquaintance offered to sell Marina a set of real U.S. papers for $800. Marina bought the identity of Michelle, a Texan she had never met. She says she was told that Michelle voluntarily sold her Social Security number to make money. Marina was set to get her job back.

But when she tried to get an Oregon ID card using Michelle's Social Security number, name and birth certificate, police detained her. Her signature and Michelle's did not match.

Marina spent the next six months in an array of courtrooms, fearing she would be deported. She avoided jail primarily because she had a clean record, she cooperated with police and because many other people had used Michelle's identity, said Clackamas County Deputy District Attorney Bryan Brock. Marina was convicted of false swearing, fined $387 and ordered to perform 80 hours of community service.

Although she learned a lesson, Marina says, others feel they have no choice, and that buying real papers is becoming "very common."

Feds battle crime groups

Large criminal organizations moving into document fraud is a major reason for the upsurge in forgery and identity theft, said Spero, the chief of the Identity and Benefit Fraud unit. These criminal groups are a special focus for ICE's fraud task forces, he said.

The organizations employ hundreds of runners, manufacturers and go-betweens across the United States, Spero said.

Last year, the task force nabbed Francisco Javier Miranda-Espinosa, a member of one of the largest fraudulent-document organizations targeted in the United States: the Castorena Family Organization. Miranda-Espinosa was sentenced in Denver to 11 years in prison. The Castorena family oversaw fraudulent document cells, or "franchises" in at least 33 states, and cell "heads" paid as much as $15,000 a month for the right to operate. Documents manufactured by this single criminal organization have been found in all 50 states, said Sibley, the ICE work site enforcement chief.

The government is also pushing to prosecute identity-theft cases. Last December, ICE agents raided six meatpacking plants owned by Swift & Co. in six states. They arrested 1,297 workers for alleged immigration violations. Nearly 300 workers were prosecuted on identity theft charges. Many workers were allowed to plead to a lesser charge of forgery to avoid overloading the court, Sibley said.

Getting fraudulent documents in Oregon is easy, workers say. They are sold in store parking lots, according to the Fresh Del Monte affidavit, as well as in offices and apartments in cities such as Woodburn, Portland and Hillsboro, according to police departments. It is unclear whether these sidewalk operators belong to large criminal groups, police said.

"This is the status quo, it's part of our state's business practice," says Ronault L.S. Catalani, a Portland attorney who works with Asian immigrants and Spanish-speaking immigrants. "Employers look the other way, because (employing undocumented workers) generates good money and there's no clear due diligence standard in how to follow the law."

Federal law requires employers to ask for documentation of legal status but not to verify workers' paperwork with the government. An employer can be prosecuted only if he knowingly hires undocumented laborers.

Sibley said there are other ramifications besides the stolen documents being used for employment.

"Just because (undocumented workers) want to get a job, that doesn't preclude them from opening a bank account or taking out a loan," Sibley said. "Innocent Americans can have their credit ruined."

Immigrant activists say most undocumented workers use the documents only to work and should not be blamed for the inevitable results of flawed immigration laws.

"The workers have to eat, they have to feed their families," said Pedro Sosa, Pacific Northwest regional organizer for the American Friends Service Committee. "It's the immigration system that is broken and needs to be fixed."

Gosia Wozniacka: 503-294-5936; gosiawozniacka@ news.oregonian.com

©2007 The Oregonian

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonia ... xml&coll=7

http://"This is the status quo, it's...llow the law."

"It's part of our state's corruption" would have been a more honest way to put it.

Illegals and their supporters find a way to justify every single crime these people commit, don't they? And it always seems to be the same thing......they have to do it for their families. And it's all America's fault.

ID theft is a very sore subject for me. My husband's name and SS# were stolen and is being used in CA. We've been in a four year nightmare trying to straighten it out and in the meantime, this criminal in CA is just getting away with everything as is the company employing him.

I've often wondered....is there any recourse ID theft victims have in going after the companies which are allowing this? If there isn't, there really should be. Maybe if these employers had to start facing restitution being paid to victims of their precious illegals, you'd see a lot of this come to a screeching halt.

I've often wondered....is there any recourse ID theft victims have in going after the companies which are allowing this? If there isn't, there really should be. Maybe if these employers had to start facing restitution being paid to victims of their precious illegals, you'd see a lot of this come to a screeching halt.

I think the key element of going after the company would be notice. If they are put on notice that their employee is using a stolen identity and that you are being injured a duty is created to correct their behavior. That would probably give rise to culpability on their part. You might want to have an attorney send them a registered letter stating your demand that they stop using the i.d.

Although she learned a lesson, Marina says, others feel they have no choice, and that buying real papers is becoming "very common."

She wasn't deported??????? And yes, she had 2 choices....never come here illegally, and GO HOME!

"The workers have to eat, they have to feed their families," said Pedro Sosa, Pacific Northwest regional organizer for the American Friends Service Committee. "It's the immigration system that is broken and needs to be fixed."

STAY HOME! FORCE YOUR GOV'T TO IMPROVE YOUR COUNTRY!

Does anyone believe that BS about someone selling their number to make money? For one thing, once it was out of your hands, that would be the last fee you'd collect. Second, look at all the trouble that would cause a real Amercian?

Originally Posted by azwreath

Illegals and their supporters find a way to justify every single crime these people commit, don't they? And it always seems to be the same thing......they have to do it for their families. And it's all America's fault.

ID theft is a very sore subject for me. My husband's name and SS# were stolen and is being used in CA. We've been in a four year nightmare trying to straighten it out and in the meantime, this criminal in CA is just getting away with everything as is the company employing him.

I've often wondered....is there any recourse ID theft victims have in going after the companies which are allowing this? If there isn't, there really should be. Maybe if these employers had to start facing restitution being paid to victims of their precious illegals, you'd see a lot of this come to a screeching halt.

As a victim of illegal alien crime...NO, SURVIVOR, ..I'm really sorry y'all are having to go through that nightmare! I posted my experience on the July 4th Caution thread yesterday.

Nouveauxpoor, I'm no lawyer, but notification is always a good step. We are always told in stories about crime to keep really good records and to write letters to the companies involved.

Thank you Nouveaux and Curious

We know that the company employing the guy knows about the stolen ID being used.....the police, SSA, etc. has contacted them about it but it hasn't seemed to bother them in the least.

I suppose we'll have to find a lawyer.


I'm glad you got your situation straightened out Curious.....it is hell isn't it?

We know that the company employing the guy knows about the stolen ID being used.....the police, SSA, etc. has contacted them about it but it hasn't seemed to bother them in the least

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Regrettably, you'll have to hire a lawyer who is licensed to practice in the jurisdiction where the company is located. If they have been given sufficient notice and continue to use the wrong i.d., the district attorney of the county should bring a criminal prosecution. If you can't get their attention, go to the attorney general of the state. All of the offices have special units to deal with i.d. theft. Finally, the SS and the IRS should also provide assistance. Good luck.

Yes, azwreath, it was hell. My daughters think I have post-traumatic stress disorder from it. I don't worry about that, because I'm too busy living and taking care of my beloved mother.

When the gang threatened to kill me, at first face to face, with all of them, lined up like a sports team getting a group picture, I was stunned at how dead their eyes looked. I'm an eye person...first thing I look at when meeting someone. Their eyes....I can still see them.....

Then when the ~12 yr old looking hand with the handgun came through my kitchen window a couple of days later...I screamed 'I've called the cops'. I could hear 3 kids voices, scrambling around, like one was falling off a chair....then they split. I threw together some of my nursing uniforms, nursing equipment, one set of casual clothes, 2 glass bowls that my daughters had blown for me in a children's glass class (priceless ya know ) called my folks and left the house. A detective said that the kid was 'trying to make his bones', whatever that means. He also told me that a more experienced gang member would have realized he could shoot me, and I would have been dead.

All of this because I very nicely asked 2 teenagers (didn't know they were gang members) to NOT tear down a street sign, so that Fire Rescue could find people who needed help. It never occurred to me that they were trying to confuse the police, till a friend pointed it out, a long time later. I just thought it a kid's prank. Also, I do NOT for one minute believe that their illegal alien parents didn't know what they were up to, didn't know that their kids had too much money, nor too many things!

I thank God that I am alive for my family, and since joining ALIPAC, May, 2006, so I can be in the effort to save our country.

Folks, I've never posted this before, and only do so as the apologists for illegal aliens don't discuss the crime caused by illegals. And yes, I get it that not all illegals would behave like the gang in my experience. I just want those of you who find yourselves feeling sorry for the people in the above article, to understand that azwreath and I are not alone. Recently, in Seattle at the UW, a young researcher was killed by her illegal alien ex-boyfriend. Even though Ms. Griego had gotten a restraining order, the police couldn't locate him. I'll bet she didn't know he had multiple ID's, had been here illegally for 10 years after overstaying a visa from the UK, and had been ordered to report for deportation. So here's another unnecessary murder of an AMERICAN, by an illegal alien. "Unnecessary murder"? HE SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN IN OUR COUNTRY IN THE FIRST PLACE.