Hispanic illegals also involved in fake driver licenses, activist asserts (Tennessee)

The head of a Hispanic civil rights organization says she knows of six or seven incidents over the past two years in which illegal aliens paid an unidentified state driver's license bureau employee in Memphis to obtain fake identification.

The assertion by Dilka Roman, Tennessee director of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), comes as authorities continue to investigate the mysterious death last month of a driver's license examiner linked to a license-selling scheme.

Roman said she reported some of what she knew to Memphis police several months before the FBI opened an investigation this winter into an alleged scheme involving examiner Katherine Smith and five New York men with ties to the Middle East. Smith died Feb. 10 in a fiery car crash a week after her arrest and a day before she was to appear in court for a detention hearing.

"Through the years we've known that people have bought their license," Roman said.

Roman, who serves on the police advisory board, said she told Police Director Walter Crews "in passing" last year about illegal license sales.

State and federal officials also said they had no information Friday confirming they'd ever been apprised of such a tip from Roman.

"There is a multi-county investigation going on," said state Department of Safety spokesman Beth Womack.

That investigation includes several reports of illegal sales of licenses statewide, she said. Womack said Highway Patrol Col. Jerry Scott told her he believes Roman's information could be a part of the larger investigation, but Womack said there was no direct confirmation Friday afternoon.

Told of Roman's account, FBI spokesman George Bolds said agents would be interested in talking with anyone who has information about the illegal sale of driver's licenses.

Roman, 39, said she learned of six or seven cases in 2000 and 2001 in which Hispanic immigrants living in Memphis purchased licenses from someone at a local licensing station. Roman said she believed the scheme involved a single state employee - a black woman, she was told - but said she didn't know if others could have been involved.

She said the immigrants, all men, told her they'd paid $500 or more for a license.

She said she inspected one of the fake licenses last year. The license contained the photograph of a non-citizen Hispanic man along with biographical information, including address and date of birth, belonging to a U.S. citizen.

"He had an American name and an address, and I told him, 'This isn't you,' " Roman said.

"I asked him, 'Where did you get this?' And he told me. 'I paid for it.' What they did is he had to stand in line. And when one person (a U.S. citizen) went through, she (the examiner) ran their license through twice. And she took a picture."

As an advocate for Memphis's burgeoning Hispanic community, Roman said she received the information in confidence and has no intention of getting any of the men in trouble with the law.

Roman said she only wants authorities to know that there may be a larger problem at the state licensing stations. She emphasized that most Hispanics here follow the law, but said there is a need for more education on proper and legal methods to obtain a license.

She said she also has admonished Hispanics who've admitted to the illegal purchase of licenses. She said many immigrants are unfamiliar with American law and believe that if an authority figure, such as a license examiner, offers such a deal, it must be OK.

"I usually get on to them right then and say this is wrong," Roman said. "This is not what we're doing. This is not the purpose of the license. You know this is misrepresentation. What happens if you get stopped?"

A federal indictment handed up last week alleged Smith, the five New York men and "others, to the grand jury unknown" acted in a conspiracy to illegally obtain licenses.

According to the indictment, Sakhera Hammad would solicit individuals to come to Memphis to buy fraudulent licenses. Hammad would then pay Khaled Odtllah, who lived here, to contact Smith to issue the fraudulent licenses.

Hammad's cousin, Abdelmuhsen Mahmid Hammad, got a Tennessee license through Odtllah and Smith on Aug. 16, according to the indictment.

Abdelmuhsen Mahmid Hammad allegedly drove co-defendants Mohammed Fares, Mostafa Said Abou-Shahin and a juvenile to Memphis from New York Feb. 5 to get more licenses - one in Fares's name and three in names that prosecutors have said appear to be aliases.

The investigation started in late January when a New York informant told an FBI agent there about the alleged scheme.

License law may be altered; tighter bills would affect immigrant drivers

A law that makes it easier for immigrants to get driver's licenses appears doomed, with even some of its former supporters calling for it to go.

Two proposals to overhaul requirements for Tennessee licenses have been introduced to the legislature within the past several weeks. A third, to repeal the license law, has been in the works for months.

Gov. Don Sundquist — who signed the law — met with legislators this week to talk about alternatives. Meanwhile, immigrant advocates have been meeting with state officials to work out a compromise short of a full repeal. Next week in Washington, Wendell Gilbert, Tennessee's head of homeland security, is taking up the matter with national Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, who has already cautioned states about what might be too-lax license requirements.

''In light of 9/11 and some other things, we may need to take another look at the law,'' said Rep. Mike Turner, D-Nashville, the law's author and most vocal proponent. ''We're looking at what we can do now that will protect the citizens of Tennessee from terrorism as well as bad drivers.''

National security concerns have persuaded many of the law's former supporters to reconsider. Many of the state's immigrant advocates, however, say the law as it stands makes Tennessee roads safer without jeopardizing national security. No known terrorist has possessed a Tennessee driver's license, they say, and a mysterious case in Memphis involving Middle Eastern immigrants illegally buying driver's licenses — and the violent death of a state worker who sold them — was not a result of the current law.

''Repealing the bill would have a major effect on public safety and would mean thousands of drivers on the road, driving illegally,'' said David Lubell, a community outreach coordinator for Latino Memphis Connection.

The law that went into effect last May allows people without Social Security numbers to apply for driver's licenses.

Last year, the law drew a diverse group of supporters, including the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, the Tennessee Farm Bureau and the League of United Latin American Citizens, among others.

Those groups said they wanted to make sure that Tennessee streets and highways were safe. Drivers who could not get a license also could not get insurance and were not required to understand the rules of the road, they said.

Opposition to the bill began immediately after it went into effect, at first prompted by long lines at driver's license testing offices across the state. Critics said the looser requirements meant that thousands of illegal immigrants — many arriving from out of state — were able to use Tennessee driver's licenses as a route to establishing forged U.S. resident identities.

Then anti-terrorism concerns after Sept. 11 renewed scrutiny of driver's license laws nationally, as well as in Tennessee, and local supporters began having second thoughts.

''Last year we thought what they were doing was a good thing,'' said Rhedona Rose, director of public affairs for the Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation. The federation supported the law because ''we didn't want farmers caught in a void of having someone work for them who could not get a driver's license.''

''Obviously, a lot's changed since then, and we're kind of at the will of seeing what's happening nationally and seeing what our state officials are planning,'' Rose said.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Brentwood, has been a longtime foe of the license law and is leading the charge to change it.

''At the time, I said it was bad public policy, and I still believe it is,'' Blackburn said. ''The events that transpired in the fall and winter make that even more clear. Now there's a greater awareness of the extreme importance to the public that we know who is presenting themselves and asking for a state ID.''

Blackburn has proposed two laws. The first is a full repeal of last year's bill. That plan has drawn support from some of the legislators who voted in favor of last year's law.

The second is considered a compromise bill with a stronger chance of getting votes. That bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Donna Rowland, R-Murfreesboro, sets out a long list of documents that would be required to obtain a license. Noncitizens would have to provide immigration papers or an identification or license from another state to obtain a license. Canadians would be excepted.

A third bill would require all state agencies — not only the Department of Safety — to report anyone to immigration officials who is seeking services without a Social Security card.

While one of that bill's sponsors, Sen. Larry Trail, D-Murfreesboro, has said he is shelving it, co-sponsor Ben West, D-Nashville, said he was still talking with constituents to see whether there was support for a modified version.

Sundquist, who last summer said he would stand by the law, also may be changing his mind.

''Currently we are still reviewing the law and reviewing any possible change to that law,'' said Sean Williams, a spokesman for Sundquist.

''Homeland security is the administration's top priority right now, and we want to find some sort of law that balances homeland security issues while ensuring that those who are driving on Tennessee roads know the rules of the road.''

I worked a case where the illegal aliens (usually includes cousins,brothers, aunts and uncles) would pay money to buy a "borrowed" social security number. They would all use the same number, along with the original owner.

So you come across wages being reported under 7 different names for the same period of time.

The social security agency doesn't care what name is on W-2 , or if the social security tax was paid by illegal aliens, the more money they get the better.

INS doesn't care, you can't even get into them to report it.

Unemployment only cares if the illegals file for unemployment. They do not have laws governing using the wrong social security numbers, unless they file for benefits. As long as the wages are reported and they get their money, no laws are broken.

State revenue, doesn't care, they got more money into their coffers than they would have otherwise.

The poor unsuspecting victim of identity theft is the only one who cares. When they are pulled for an IRS audit because they failed to report the wages earned for that year they find out that people with three names have used their social security number. The IRS doesn't just investigate and take the wages out of the owner's database nooooo, the taxpayer has to prove they didn't work at the establishments. The establishments who didn't check out the workers very well, aren't about to help the owner of the social security number for fear of being prosecuted.

No one seems to have a problem with identity theft, except the taxpayer. It is a real see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil. Especially during the Clinton years. The master of evil, knew that they could use these same individuals to vote for them, so they solved any potential scandel and problem by making sure the INS didn't have the resources to investigate these problems. An easy way to solve a problem without political heat.

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