Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2005 7:02 p.m. EST
New York City Awash in Fake IDs

http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/12/6/190312.shtml



With 525,000 illegal immigrants in New York City, the Big Apple is awash in fake IDs, with much of the phony document trade centered in a single neighborhood in Queens.

"Roosevelt Avenue is like the mecca for fake documents," state Assemblyman Jose Peralta tells the New York Sun. "If anybody comes through New York City and they ask, 'Where can I get a false document?' the no. 1 answer is going to be Roosevelt Avenue. It's the place, it's the spot."

The Department of Homeland Security said it is aware of the problem, but explains that document fraud knows no geographic bounds.

"Roosevelt Avenue is one of the primary areas in New York City to buy false documents, but it is not limited to any borough, or any immigrant community, and it is not new," Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Mark Thorn told the paper.

Exacerbating the situation, illegal immigration into the US now tops legal immigration, according to a recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington.The explosion in illegals needing paperwork to pass through society has driven up demand for the phony papers.
Guardian Angel founder Curtis Sliwa, who knows the city's streets like few civilians, tells the Sun that Latino Street gangs are increasingly behind the fake ID trade. He set up a chapter in the Roosevelt Avenue area several years ago after a rise in gang activity.

Earlier this week, NYPD's Special Fraud Unit cracked down on the document dealers after an intensive investigation by the Queens District Attorney's office. More than a dozen locations closed down.

But T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, told the Sun, "You can put some out of business, but others will just spring up. As long as there's a demand for these documents and the documents continue to be accepted, people will be out there supplying."