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Illegal Immigrants and Identity Theft

Posted on Dec 17, 2006 by Michelle Pastor

According to the Denver Post, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has made identity theft the primary focus for the first time in its December 12th raid on illegal immigrants working at Swift meat-packing plants.  ICE officials detained an undetermined number of employees suspected of stealing social security numbers and names, then falsifying documents to get work.  The identity theft victims in this case have complained that the illegal employees not only used their identities to gain employment illegally, but also to open credit accounts, collect unemployment benefits and run up tax bills in the victims’ names.

Coincidentally, on December 7, days before the Swift raid, the Vail Daily in Colorado ran an article about ID theft in Vail and its ties to illegal immigrants. The victim in the article had his social security number stolen which was then used to create fake documents purchased by two illegal immigrants.  Both of the illegals claimed nine dependents at three jobs each which maximized their take-home pay.  The victim was then stuck with a $4,600 bill for unpaid taxes.

Why is it so easy for the same social security number to be used in different cities at the same time?  Multiple uses of the same social security number should be a red flag that’s easy to spot by the SSA.  But, unfortunately, even when the SSA identifies suspicious activity, the law prevents it from reporting it to Homeland Security.  The law needs to change because the information is there, but there’s no follow-up or communication which would easily stop a number of identity theft cases.

If the SSA with its vast technology can’t help the situation, why aren’t the employers able to stop the fraud.  While some employers can’t tell if an employee is presenting a fake document, others knowingly hire illegal immigrants with fake documents in order to pay them lower wages.  Some employers will purposely not photocopy an employee’s identification or not have the employee fill out the proper tax forms so that in the event of an investigation, the police can’t prove that the business is at fault.  The businesses that are knowingly hiring immigrants with illegal documents aren’t motivated enough to stop this practice and are contributing to the rampant spread of identity theft.