How can an official certification of live birth be obtained if the person on the document wasn't born in the state or even in the country the document was issued?
Actually, it's been done before.
In 2004, following a long investigation by the FBI and Department of State, Jean Anderson, the former deputy registrar of the Hudson County, N.J., Office of Vital Statistics, pleaded guilty to taking money for falsifying county records.
According to a Department of Justice news release, Anderson was paid to insert phony birth records for illegal aliens into the files at her county office. The immigrants, in turn, approached county window clerks and requested copies of their birth certificates, after which the clerks looked to the files and, upon seeing the records Anderson had inserted, issued fraudulent birth certificates unknowingly.
Federal agents executed a search warrant of the HCOVS in February of 2004, resulting in the seizure of hundreds of suspect birth certificates listing birthplaces in Jersey City, N.J, when in fact, the individuals named were immigrants born outside the U.S."
Continued here:
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=107200
Not surprising in the least.
Excerpts from:
BIRTH CERTIFICATE FRAUD. Department of Health and Human Services OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL. JUNE GIBBS BROWN Inspector General, SEPTEMBER 2000, 0EI-07-99-00570.
FINDINGS
Fundamental, Irreconcilable Conflicts Surround Birth Certificate Purposes and Uses
Birth Certificates Continue to be Used as “Breeder Documents” and are Easy to Obtain
Virtually all Federal and State agencies agree that fraudulent birth certificates are used as “breeder documents” to obtain the genuine documents needed to create new identities, and that fraudulent birth certificates are easy to obtain. Factors which contribute to their use as “breeder documents” include the following:
currently, 6,422 different entities issue birth certificates. This large number of State, county, city, township, and other entities that issue birth certificates increases opportunities for fraud, theft, bribery, and other methods of illegally obtaining birth certificates;
thirteen States allow “open” access to birth records, which allows virtually anyone to purchase copies of any birth certificates on file; and
birth certificates can be purchased without identification from some vital records offices and issuing entities.
Birth Certificate Fraud is Hard to Detect
Many altered or counterfeit birth certificates and genuine birth certificates held by imposters may go undetected. The reasons why these fraudulent birth certificates are hard to detect include the following:
over 14,000 different versions of birth certificates are in circulation;
nearly 4 million United States births were registered in 1999;
security features contained in the paper used to issue birth certificates, as well as formats and signatures, vary among State vital records offices and the many local entities issuing them;
technological advances in the Internet, scanners, color printers, and copiers make it easier to obtain genuine birth certificates and create counterfeit ones;
between 85 and 90 percent of the birth certificate fraud encountered by the Immigration and Naturalization Services and Passport Services staff is the result of genuine birth certificates held by imposters — the most difficult fraud to detect; and
Federal and State agency staff report receiving only limited training focused on the detection of fraudulent birth certificates.
Birth Certificate Fraud
State Practices Create Opportunities for Fraud
It was the consensus of those we interviewed that a number of State practices create opportunities for fraud. Those practices include the following:
delayed, amended, and midwife birth registrations that are based on affidavits of personal knowledge, include no documentary evidence, and are not often marked or overlaid accordingly;
delays in matching death and birth records can make the identities of many deceased persons easy to assume between the time the person dies and the time the death and birth records are matched;
questionable physical security situations that create opportunities for fraud; and
limited oversight of local issuing entities by State vital records offices.
Birth Certificate Fraud is Seldom Prosecuted
Virtually all of the Federal and State agency staff we talked with indicate birth certificate fraud is seldom prosecuted unless it can be linked to large dollar losses or other punishable crimes. Most staff also indicate that many prosecutors are reluctant, or refuse to take birth certificate fraud cases in which the only charge is attempting to obtain another individual’s birth certificate, or counterfeiting or altering a birth certificate. At the same time, misconceptions exist surrounding the security and integrity of birth certificates.
CONCLUSIONS
Birth Certificates Alone do not Provide Conclusive or Reliable Proof of Identity
Many agencies and organizations request that individuals provide their birth certificates to receive a benefit or service, or to support the issuance of other documents often used for identity purposes (e.g., driver’s license). However, agencies who rely on birth certificates as a means of establishing identity must understand the limitations of accepting a birth certificate as proof of age, citizenship, or identity. For example, genuine documents obtained with counterfeit birth certificates can be used to obtain genuine birth certificates. Thus, it is inherently illogical to require someone to prove their identity using potentially fraudulent identity documents spawned by false birth certificates in order to obtain a birth certificate.
Further, it would be Impractical to Redesign Birth Certificates to Make them Reliable Identification Documents in and of Themselves