Free Republic

A woman was sentenced to three to six years in prison for helping run an identity-fraud ring that supplied fake driver's licenses, Social Security cards and resident-alien IDs to thousands of people. Maricruz Chavez, 31, of Queens, pleaded guilty last month to attempted enterprise corruption. The investigation has led to 17 other convictions. More than 5,000 forged government-ID documents were seized, including 700 driver's licenses from 11 states......

One day in the winter of 1996, while 12-year-old Suad Leija was getting ready for school, more than a dozen armed FBI agents raided her family's Chicago-area home. They were looking for her stepfather, Manuel Leija-Sanchez, who federal authorities believe runs a document-fraud network -- producing fake passports, Social Security cards, driver's licenses and a variety of other official papers -- with cells throughout the United States. That cold morning, the agents were too late. Manuel Leija-Sanchez had fled during the night to Mexico after he was tipped off to the impending raid, his stepdaughter recalled. The business continued to...

COSTA MESA -- Like many teenagers, Ivan Hernandez wants to buy a car someday. On Sunday, he went to get a wallet-size laminated card that may help. It's not a driver's license or a credit card. Hernandez, 16, is a Mexican citizen, so he applied to his country's consulate for a matricula consular, a photo ID card much like a U.S. state ID. To get the card, applicants must show legal documents such as birth certificates or passports, and they give their fingerprints and signature. Organizers from the Orange County Congregation Community Organization worked with the Laguna Niguel-based Unico Foundation...

The Department of Homeland Security allowed a man to enter its headquarters last week using a fake Matricula Consular card as identification, despite federal rules that say the Mexican-issued card is not valid ID at government buildings. Bruce DeCell, a retired New York City police officer, used his phony card -- which lists his place of birth as "Tijuana, B.C." and his address as "123 Fraud Blvd." on an incorrectly spelled "Staton Island, N.Y." -- to enter the building Wednesday for a meeting with DHS officials. Mr. DeCell said he has had the card for four years and has used...

A former worker at a DMV office in Bridgeport, Conn., has pleaded guilty to charges of issuing hundreds of phony licenses.......and to charges of receiving bribes, forgery and racketeering. She and two female colleagues had begun selling a few licenses to illegal aliens working locally........The operation soon grew to dozens of licenses and IDs being sold every day by the women......... By the summer of 2004, police said, the trio had sold 1,579 driver's licenses and 930 ID's, at an average of $100 per card.

A college student from Long Island was arrested in Westchester today and charged with making hundreds of fake driver's licenses and selling them to students who used them to drink in local bars. Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore said 20-year-old Edward Henselder, of Melville, Long Island, was charged with one count of Forgery and one count of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument, both felonies. Henselder, a freshman at Pace University, who resided at Dow Hall in Briarcliff Manor, allegedly made and sold hundreds of high-quality fake New Jersey drivers licenses and sold them for $25 dollars a license....

AUSTIN, Minn. — In Minnesota towns where hogs and turkeys meet their ends at the hands of workers from foreign lands, local officials often find themselves asking newcomers a simple question.Who are you?A worker with questionable immigration status may be carrying equally questionable identification. In Austin, where immigrants are lured by pork processing jobs, Mower County Attorney Patrick Flanagan has seen enough bad-ID cases to worry about a sizable "ghost'' population of misidentified residents."If you're a ghost, how can we help you? How can anyone help you?" he asked.Imagine a small, rural community where people are used to knowing one...

Law enforcement officials yesterday announced the dismantling of a major fake identity-document ring - exposed in The New York Sun on Monday. But hours after the press conference, dealers were back selling fake green cards and driver's licenses on the same Queens avenue that had been targeted in the bust. A 19-month undercover investigation by federal and local officials concluded this week with the seizure of more than 5,000 forged documents and the indictment of 21 individuals. Among those arrested was the dealer who last week sold this reporter a fake green card signifying permanent resident status. The Queens district...

Even though Los Angeles is considered the epicenter of the fake ID trade, for years the problem didn't register as a high priority for an already burdened police force. The lack of consistent enforcement allowed the underground industry to build up until it was "out of control," said LAPD Officer Fernando Flores. [snip] "When you first get here, you don't know where to go," said Flores, 25, who lives in Huntington Park. "The people who have been here a long time tell you. Everybody knows you can buy papers in MacArthur Park." [snip] Mica [slang for laminated ID cards] mills...

By TIM MCGLONE, The Virginian-Pilot © August 5, 2005 Last updated: 11:01 PM NORFOLK — A federal judge Thursday ordered a Central American man jailed on charges of producing phony immigration documents after learning that he had been convicted of manslaughter 15 years ago but had never been deported.Margarito Diaz is one of two men charged in an investigation of mass-produced phony identifications used by illegal immigrants to remain in the country and obtain employment.Federal authorities arrested Diaz this week after executing a search warrant at his residence in Accomac in Accomack County . Another suspect, Perfecto Perez, was arrested...

Senator Gil Cedillo's bill to give California driver's licenses to illegal aliens is set to be heard in the Senate Transportation & Housing Committee this Thursday. Please take time today to contact the committee members and ask them to oppose this bill. more information available at www.saveourlicense.com email all of the committee members (except for Maldonado, Runner & Simitian who don't use public email addresses. Use our website to contact them.)

"If we went down to the Camelback Inn today in Phoenix and arrested everyone who’s working there illegally, the place would probably shut down," McCain was quoted as saying in The Hill, a nonpartisan newspaper covering politics in the nation’s capitol.

On May 12, Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Representatives Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) introduced companion guestworker amnesty bills, S. 1033 and H.R. 2330. The text of this legislation is not yet available, but here's what we've learned this legislation entails. Millions of currently resident illegal aliens would be permitted to buy guestworker status for a fee of $1,000. After the first three year term they could apply for three year extensions (for another $1000), and in the meantime, apply for green cards. After six years they would be eligible for permanent residency, which...

-- “Illegal Aliens should be rounded up and deported.” LONEGAN NEWS CONFERENCE TO PROTEST “DRIVING PRIVILEGE” LICENSES FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS LODI -- Bogota Mayor and GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Steve Lonegan will hold a news conference at 12 noon, Monday, May 16, 2005 to protest proposed “driving privilege” licenses so illegal aliens can drive cars “legally.” WHERE? Outside Lodi DMV, 8 Mill Street (off Garibaldi Ave.), Lodi WHEN? Noon, TODAY, Monday, May 16, 2005. WHAT? Lonegan will also urge State Republican Chairman Tom Wilson to withdraw his support for the “driving privilege” driver’s license for illegal aliens as expressed in a...

According to the FBI, every 14.6 seconds one burglary is committed in America. The primary reason behind this disturbing fact is that it remains illegal to take other people’s stuff. Even if you really, really need other people’s stuff to enjoy a better life for you and your children, you are not “supposed” to take it under current rules. But what choice do tens of thousands of Americans have? Likewise, there are millions of items that –when new and un-stolen-- have prices that most Americans are simply not willing to pay. We all benefit from theft, yet it remains illegal....

Taking illegals for a spin I got a press release the other day from one of those liberal interest groups. The release called for New Jersey to start issuing driver's licenses to illegal aliens.......Following is the release. Notice how the writer artfully makes a radical idea seem acceptable to mainstream Americans. I am an expert in decoding political spin, so I have put in brackets my explanations of just how the spin doctor operates. Here goes: "The REAL ID Act of 2005 has now been passed by both houses of Congress and is poised for the President's signature. New Jersey...

A woman whose brother was killed in the September 11 attacks yesterday surprised top members of the House Homeland Security Committee with counterfeit Mexican matricula consular cards bearing the members' identities and showcasing how easy it is to get valid identification to board an airplane. Debra Burlingame, who was testifying on the Transportation Security Administration's screening procedures for pilots and flight crews, wouldn't reveal who made the cards, which appeared to bear the security marks of a valid card, but emphasized that they can be used to carry on daily business. "They look exactly like what I've seen. The back...

WASHINGTON -- Thousands of illegal immigrants have obtained driver's licenses in three states, federal authorities said Thursday, highlighting a security hole that the Sept. 11 hijackers exploited. Three employees of Florida's motor vehicles agency were among 52 people arrested in a bribery scam that put driver's licenses in the hands of at least 2,000 illegal immigrants, officials said. The case, announced Thursday, follows similar arrests in Michigan and Maryland over the past week. "With a valid driver's license, you establish an identity," said Michael Garcia, assistant secretary of the Homeland Security Department. "There's no way to identify whether that identity...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Thousands of illegal immigrants have obtained driver's licenses in three states, federal authorities said Thursday, highlighting a security hole that the Sept. 11 hijackers exploited. Three employees of Florida's motor vehicles agency were among 52 people arrested in a bribery scam that put driver's licenses in the hands of at least 2,000 illegal immigrants, officials said. The case, announced Thursday, follows similar arrests in Michigan and Maryland over the past week. "With a valid driver's license, you establish an identity," said Michael Garcia, assistant secretary of the Homeland Security Department. "There's no way to identify whether that...

A Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration employee conspired with the owner of a driving school and a third person to sell state identification cards, many to illegal immigrants, for as much as $2,000 each, federal authorities alleged yesterday.