Posted on 09/06/2006 5:15:05 AM PDT by chambley1
A fake ID operation that was manufacturing immigration green cards, Social Security cards and employment papers for more than 1,000 people is out of business, said Prince William County detectives.
Northern Virginia Gang Task Force Detective Brian Wing said this was the largest fake ID operation seen in the county so far, and the men involved had been selling fake employment documents for some time.
Police arrested three Woodbridge men on Saturday when they allegedly sold a fake Social Security card and an employment authorization card to a woman for $100, according to arrest warrants filed in Prince William General District Court.
At 8:45 p.m. detectives stopped a woman in the parking lot of Todos Supermarket in the 14400 block of Jefferson Davis Highway in the Prince William Plaza, said Officer John Bogert, Prince William police spokesman.
The woman had just purchased a fake Social Security card and an employment authorization card, so detectives looked for the men selling the cards, Bogert said.
Police found three men and arrested them for manufacturing and selling the false identity cards, Bogert said.
Police charged Jovani Hernandez-Garcia, 23; Carlos Lopez, 24; and Mario Peralto-Alatorre, 20, all of whom live at 14124 Essex Drive in Woodbridge, Bogert said.
Each was charged with one misdemeanor count, according to court records.
Wing said the trio should expect to see 10 more felony forgery charges handed down from the Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney.
The men were making between $100 and $200 per fake ID, which they made using computers, scanners, printers and a card maker, Wing said.
Police seized from the house on Essex Drive blank green cards, Social Security cards, resident alien cards, permanent resident cards, more than 1,000 Polaroid pictures, a photo cutter, heat sealers and holograms, Wing said.
Police also collected card makers and completed IDs from Texas, Tennessee, Ohio and every state in Mexico, Wing said.
He said the false documents were "shoddy" at best.
"There are things I've been taught to look for," Wing said. He pointed to a fake Social Security card. "The lines aren't straight."
He said his main focus is going to be to look for anyone else who might have been involved with the false ID operation.
"I'm looking for more people," Wing said. "If they're out there, I'm going to find them. I'm also going to look into the financial records to see where the money is going."
As for the people who were waiting for their false documents, Wing said he wasn't sure if police would be pursuing them.
"We don't know if these names and dates of birth are right," he said. "I'm not sure anything will happen to them or not."
Hernandez-Garcia, Lopez and Peralto-Alatorre were held in the Prince William-Manassas regional jail without bond. Their court hearing date is Nov. 14.
"We don't know if these names and dates of birth are right," he said. "I'm not sure anything will happen to them or not."
PRICELESS!
In a time of war, these people would be shot. Oh I keep forgetting, we aren't at war.
Fake documents in Virginia; drivers license in Maryland. Then a registration to vote in our elections. Put the kids in school and sign them them up for medicaid.
Heck, Virginia DMV employees have a sideline selling licenses to illegals. The prices vary, but they start around $1,000 and up.
Yoo hoo, over here!
The penalties: Automatic deportation for non-citizens and loss of citizenship for native citizens(or so my fantasy goes).
With current dirt cheap scanner/graphics/printer technology, most any college freshman can handle this task.
At one operation I saw (at a renowned technical university), you had your choice of a driver's license /ID from most any state in the union custom made in minutes.
Sad but true. That's why the penalties need to be severe. Oh, and I forgot to mention that they should include the loss of any chance to be here legally, forever.
Some Immigrants Are Offering Social Security Numbers for Rent NY Times | 6/7/2005 | EDUARDO PORTER
FR Posted on 06/06/2005 11:57:25 PM EDT by nj26
Gerardo Luviano is looking for somebody to rent his Social Security number. Mr. Luviano, 39, obtained legal residence in the United States almost 20 years ago. But these days, back in Mexico, teaching beekeeping at the local high school in this hot, dusty town in the southwestern part of the country, Mr. Luviano is not using his Social Security number.
So he is looking for an illegal immigrant in the United States to use it for him - providing a little cash along the way. "I've almost managed to contact somebody to lend my number to," Mr. Luviano said. "My brother in California has a friend who has crops and has people that need one."
Mr. Luviano's pending transaction is merely a blip in a shadowy yet vibrant underground market. Virtually undetected by American authorities, operating below the radar in immigrant communities from coast to coast, a secondary trade in identities has emerged straddling both sides of the Mexico-United States border. The number of people participating in the illegal deals is impossible to determine accurately.
But it is clearly significant, flourishing despite efforts to combat identity fraud. "There are people who live in Mexico who take $4,000 or $5,000 in unemployment in the off season," said Jorge Eguiluz, a labor contractor working in the fields around Stockton, Calif. "They just lend the number during the season." The deals also generate cash in other ways. Most identity lending happens within an extended family, or among immigrants from the same hometown. But it is still a hard-nosed transaction. Illegal immigrant workers usually earn so little they are owed an income tax refund at the end of the year. The illegal immigrant "working the number" will usually pay the real owner by sharing the tax refund.
(Excerpt) Read more. From the article: Since legal American residents can lose their green cards if they stay outside the country too long, for those who have returned to Mexico it is useful to have somebody working under their identity north of the border. "There are people who live in Mexico who take $4,000 or $5,000 in unemployment in the off season," said Jorge Eguiluz, a labor contractor working in the fields around Stockton, Calif. "They just lend the number during the season." The deals also generate cash in other ways. Most identity lending happens within an extended family, or among immigrants from the same hometown. But it is still a hard-nosed transaction.
Illegal immigrant workers usually earn so little they are owed an income tax refund at the end of the year. The illegal immigrant "working the number" will usually pay the real owner by sharing the tax refund. "Sometimes the one who is working doesn't mind giving all the refund, he just wants to work," said Fernando Rosales, who runs a shop preparing income taxes in the immigrant-rich enclave of Huntington Park, Calif. "But others don't, and sometimes they fight over it. We see that all the time. It's the talk of the place during income tax time."
The income tax "refund" is almost certainly generated by Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) fraud, which as a "legal resident" the number renter would qualify to receive, especially if they have have or claim children. The EITC is a "refundable tax credit, which means the IRS will pay it out even if no taxes have been withheld or paid in. So the IRS gives filers who claim the EITC "refunds," even if they have had no taxes withheld. These number renters can claim up to $4,400 for the 2005 tax year in EITC "refunds," most of the number renters probably claim this maximum refund.
The Additional Child Tax Credit is another "refundable" credit which is no doubt routinely claimed by these renters.For 2005, if the number renter claimed $14,400 in wage income, and three children, between the EITC and the Additional Child Tax Credit the renter would, without having any taxes withheld from wages, receive a tax "refund" of $4,898, plus have $892 credited to Social Security; in addition to the potential of thousands of dollars in California unemployment compensation.
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