U.S. Supreme Court rejects some immigrant ID theft charges
12 local cases up for review
By Janell Ross • Staff Writer • May 7, 2009

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A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruling is prompting Middle Tennessee's federal prosector to review 12 cases against undocumented workers.



The court ruled this week that, in order to win convictions in federal aggravated identity theft cases, prosecutors must show the individual undocumented worker on trial knew that the false identification documents or Social Security number he used to obtain work belonged to a real person.


In the absence of this information, an illegal worker may face civil charges related to illegally entering the United States or overstaying a visa, criminal charges of illegally reentering the country after being deported, or some combination thereof.

The case before the Supreme Court stemmed from a May 2008 U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement raid on a Pottsville, Iowa, meat plant. More than 300 workers were detained on the suspicion that they were illegal workers.


The government had evidence that the employer or a third-party employment broker supplied the workers with the Social Security numbers and other documents to obtain work at the plant. Prosecutors did not have evidence that the workers knew the numbers were not simply made up or that they belonged to a real person.

On Tuesday, the American Immigration Lawyers Association called on U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to consider dismissing the guilty pleas of nearly 300 illegal immigrants arrested after the Pottsville raid.


Prosecutors dropped an identity theft charge against the human resources manager at the plant. Prosecutors had accused the manager of helping immigrants to get jobs at the plant using documents she knew were fake.

Federal identity theft charges are rare in Middle Tennessee, said federal prosecutor Edward M. Yarbrough. He and area federal public defenders do not anticipate there will be much local fallout from the decision.


Since 2004, 43 people in the Nashville area have been federally charged with aggravated identity theft. Of these cases, 12 are pending, meaning that the defendant has not been to trial or not been sentenced.

On Wednesday, Yarborough said his staff will review each of the 12 cases to determine if the evidence is consistent with the standards identified by the Supreme Court this week.

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