Thread: Illegal Immigration & Demand for Forged Docs

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/n ... lly_nation

Illegal Immigration Drives Demand for Forged Documents
By Dave Montgomery
Inquirer Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Forgers are making tens of millions, and possibly billions, of dollars selling counterfeit Social Security cards, driver's licenses, immigrant registration cards, and other papers to illegal immigrants.

The dominant forgery-and-distribution network in the United States is controlled by the Castorena family, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say. Its members came from Mexico in the late 1980s and have used their printing skills and business acumen to capture a big piece of the booming industry, officials say.

Only trained experts can distinguish its fake identity documents from real ones, and the Castorena family organization has spread to at least 50 cities in 33 states.

At a sentencing hearing for one family member in December, U.S. District Judge Lewis T. Babcock of Denver said that the group's criminal reach was "simply breathtaking" and struck "at the heart of the sovereignty of the United States of America."

Julie Myers, assistant secretary at Immigration and Customs, calls document forging an "epidemic." Her agency, a branch of the Department of Homeland Security, is waging a nationwide crackdown on forgery rings and has formed multiagency task forces in 10 cities, including Philadelphia.

The agency's investigations have hobbled many Castorena family operations, indicting and convicting family members and senior subordinates. But the organization's fugitive leader, Pedro Castorena-Ibarra, still controls operations from Mexico, agency investigators said, and the family enterprise continues to dominate the illicit document trade in the United States.

Agents are conducting more than 3,500 investigations nationwide into document forgery. They have closed document mills in Charlotte, N.C.; Los Angeles; Denver; and several other cities in recent months. But Castorena family cells continue to operate in many cities.

Federal authorities said that it was virtually impossible to calculate the financial scope of document forgery, but that illicit profits easily amount to many millions - if not billions - of dollars. One investigation of Castorena family operations in Los Angeles resulted in the seizure of three million documents with a street value of more than $20 million.

"We've hit them pretty hard, but have we shut down the entire operation?" said Scott A. Weber, chief of the Identity and Benefit Fraud Unit in Immigration and Customs' Washington headquarters. "I don't think we can say that yet. We know there are many different cells out there, and they are still providing documents."

Illegal immigrants are often given packages of phony documents as part of a $2,000 smuggling fee. Others can easily make contact with vendors who operate on street corners or at flea markets in immigrant communities in virtually every city.

In Washington, vendors operate openly in the Adams-Morgan neighborhood, a few miles north of the White House, said James Spero, an Immigration and Customs agent. Peddlers attract customers by forming a C with their thumbs and forefingers, a sign widely recognized among illegal immigrants that the peddlers have documents for sale.

A typical transaction usually includes papers such as a Social Security card, a driver's license, and a "green card" granting permanent U.S. residency. Fees range from $75 to $300, depending on quality.

After a customer places the order, a runner takes the money and a photo to a document mill, typically in a nondescript house or apartment. The false documents are often in the customer's hands within an hour.

Lawmakers are struggling to craft an immigration law to correct the current law's shortcomings with tamper-proof identity cards and a nationwide data bank. Skeptics fear that criminals will still find ways to beat the system.

The gold standard for document forgeries, investigators said, comes off the assembly line of the Castorena network. It built its fortune by employing the same principles used by legitimate corporations: a superior product, franchises in big cities, and a coast-to-coast sales force.

Castorena family counterfeiters microscopically study relevant U.S. documents and replicate virtually every detail, including some security features that are embedded into the laminate in an attempt to prevent duplication.

Analysts using high-tech equipment at the Immigration and Customs document lab unfailingly spot forgeries, but Castorena-produced documents can easily fool employers and even the trained eyes of police.

Pedro Castorena-Ibarra, one of the immigration agency's 10 most-wanted fugitives, allegedly started the operation with three brothers and two sisters after they entered the country and settled in the heavily Latino MacArthur Park section of Los Angeles.

In-laws and trusted lieutenants became part of the leadership as the network expanded across the country by charging "franchise fees" of up to $15,000 a month to run document mills.

For years, the organization supplied most of the nation's print stock of phony documents. Later, it distributed computer templates after the high-tech era opened the door to computerized counterfeiting, investigators said. Court documents from a Denver investigation describe the network as "intricately orchestrated and exceptionally well-organized."

The Castorenas forbid local operatives from drug trafficking and other trades that would attract increased scrutiny from law enforcement, investigators said. They also regularly update their products to keep pace with government-mandated changes in official documents.

Castorena-Ibarra, 42, who fled to Mexico to escape federal indictments, still runs the organization, passing orders through surrogates in the United States, said Cory Voorhis, an immigration special agent in Denver.

The Local Anti-Forgery Effort

Philadelphia is one of 10 cities where the federal government has set up interagency task forces to combat document forgery.

"What we're implementinghere is really nothing new," said John Kelleghan, acting special agent in charge of investigations at Philadelphia's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) headquarters. "We're formally starting a task force."

"We're workingwith our

other federal and local partners to bring our respective tools into the same toolbox," he said.

Bill Riley, the ICE agent in charge of the local document fraud unit, said there had been no Castorena prosecutions in the Philadelphia region. There are no local kingpins, as such, but smaller vendors that buy in bulk from mega-document mills based in Los Angeles, he said. Nor is there a commercial district or area in our region known to be a market for fake green cards and Social Security cards.

His unit has broken up small operations in the Kennett Square area. Every year, it handles about a dozen cases involving deported convicts who reenter the country with stolen identities, many of them Dominicans who pose as Puerto Ricans, Riley said.

Kelleghan said he could not disclose how many agents were devoted to document fraud but said it was a significant number.

Why is it that all of this crime seems to come form LA? Gangs, document mills, illegal transport companies.fraudulent voter registration. I am sure that the illegal population in LA is as appalled at this as the American citizens are. But then it is reported to be the capitol city of Aztlan.
In my opinion, to find criminals and crooked politicians all you have to do is "follow the money".

Pedro Castorena-Ibarra, one of the immigration agency's 10 most-wanted fugitives..

Well I, for one, wont be holding my breath waiting for him to be captured anytime soon. To the Fox/Bush team, and big business interests, this guy is GOLDEN!

Los Angeles is a sanctuary city as in LAPD Special order 40. which=No touchie the messicans- aka the gateway for Cocaine trafficking.
Blame Barbara Boxer!

And anyway, why the heck are they wasting our taxes going after the printers of forged documents when all they have to do is enforce the existing laws that demand that the IRS share their info on forged ssn#'s and ITIN's ? I don't give a rat's behind how pretty the socials look- Mandatory Identity checks by Employers and Felony convictions for Employers who employee illegals as well as Deportation of illegals.

ATTRITION ATTRITION ATTRITION.