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When police stumbled across the pair, the men had turned a hotel room into a business office and were readying a massive cache of fake Social Security cards for delivery to a local identity broker, authorities said.

The area is known to be loaded with Mexican and other Central and South American immigrants. This operation was also prepping illegals to get forged documents so they could vote for Menendez for the US Senate.

Yes, but were their constitutional rights violated ?

Fear not, these two will be replaced next week at a different location.

Surely the "Comprehensive package" will get amnesty for all the folks
helping those poor illegal immigrants and imported terrorists get
their forged documents.
(end sarcasm)

ping

""Can you imagine if a terrorist were able to get their hands on this stuff?" Della Fave said. "They'd have free passage throughout the country."

Yes, and I imagine they already have. The borders are open and the fake IDs are for sale. A terrorist's dream.

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.

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.

Well, I'm glad they caught 'em, but one must wonder how many there are out there who haven't been caught.

ping

I can understand counterfeiting a Social Security card, but a Green Card is another matter. It has more holograms than you can imagine, with a couple showing the photo of the person in the background. The first time I saw my wife's I swore the government must have spent $100 creating the thing.

BUMP