Meatpacking raids: A victim's story

MSNBC ^ | 13 December 2006 | Bob Sullivan

[APRPEH]

Theresa Sanchez was expecting a $5,400 tax refund when she opened a letter from the IRS in January 2003. Instead, she got a bill demanding payment of taxes on $120,000 in undeclared wages. Someone using her name and Social Security number had earned the money through a series of jobs dating back to 1996 and had not paid any taxes on the income, the letter said.

Sanchez complained to the agency and to the Federal Trade Commission that her identity had been stolen, and was being used by someone to gain employment. Nonetheless, more than two years later, in April 2005, a woman walked into the Swift & Co. meatpacking plant in Greeley, Colo., and used Theresa Sanchez's name and Social Security number to get a job.

The woman’s employment ruse became public knowledge Tuesday when authorities raided Swift & Co. plants in six states and arrested approximately 1,300 illegal immigrants suspected of buying or stealing other people’s identities to secure U.S. jobs.

The suspect accused of illegally using Sanchez’s identity is identified only as Jane Doe in an affidavit filed by authorities Tuesday in Weld County, Colo., district court.

Attempts to find the real Sanchez, who lives in Texas, were unsuccessful. Neither Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials nor the Federal Trade Commission would provide additional details about her or her case.

But MSNBC.com was able to piece together part of her decade-long identity theft ordeal from details provided in the affidavit.

Sanchez told investigators that she suspects her ex-husband gave the information to an imposter about 10 years ago.

[APRPEH]

And over the entire 10-year span, federal agencies like the IRS and the Social Security Administration could have detected suspicious use of her Social Security number, since they were collecting taxes from multiple jobs at multiple locations. But it is not the policy of either agency to warn consumers that their number might have been been stolen.

[Lurker]

Here's another victim of your 'victimless' crime.

Just committing the Identity Thefts that Americans don't want to.

L

[conservative in nyc]

But it is not the policy of either agency to warn consumers that their number might have been been stolen.

This is a stupid policy that should be changed - if not just to make it easier to find and prosecute identity theft.

[William Terrell]

Hopefully, the weight of every statute against using illegal aliens will decent on Swift & Co.

[machogirl]

this is another in a long line of things that don't make sense. if it is ILLEGAL for an American citizen to steal and identity, credit card fraud, SSI fraud, medicare fraud, why on Earth is the President, MCCain (my senator), willing to give people a pass, get out of jail free card, citizen ship, back taxes and social security, benefits, to people who have committed crimes? They have to had committed some crimes to be here and working illegally(fake id). Why is a citizen not covered under the equal protection clause? Why is an illegal alien entitled to a special protection from jail that the rest of us aren't if we commit fraud?

[samadams2000]

That CEO is rightly toast.

[HarmlessLovableFuzzball]

Looking at the source of the article, for a moment I thought 'victim' refered to one of those rounded up.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

Here's another victim of your 'victimless' crime.

Just committing the Identity Thefts that Americans don't want to.

L

Oh come on now Lurker. This woman should be happy, no, PROUD that she's contributed to the economy by letting her identity be "borrowed". Her "borrowed" identity will guarantee we'll keep getting cheap salads.

In fact, her reporting the "borrowed" identity as a theft should be considered racist.

I think this woman needs some diversity training, the filthy bigot!



Do I really need to add a /sarc tag?

[Lizavetta]

the IRS and the Social Security Administration could have detected suspicious use of her Social Security number, since they were collecting taxes from multiple jobs at multiple locations

Yet another reason why our big hungry government i.e. politicians, will do nothing to stop this.

[panthermom]

The IRS is truly a rogue agency and they are complicent in the illegal alien nightmare. They don't care where they get their taxes from, they can easily keep track of the SS numbers being duplicated. It does not take a genius to figure out that one person cannot work in multiply states, DUH. But, hey, they are being taxed. They are also the sleazes that give out tax ID numbers to anybody which just exacerbates the illegal problem. Disgusting.

[KeyLargo]

She should just pay the taxes. How insensitive of her to blame the poor immigrants. :)

[Gunslingr3]

Here's another victim of your 'victimless' crime.

I see a victim of the government's rapacious appetite for the earnings of people in America. Are you upset that people are willing to come here and work, or that the government makes it difficult for them to do some legally?

[Minutemen]

I want to hear the story. Let me get my violin first!

[APRPEH]

:)

Headline: Illegal workers rounded up at Swift plants complain

subtitle: unable to punch clock while handcuffed

[Jacquerie]

But it is not the policy of either agency to warn consumers that their number might have been been stolen.

No, of course not. The IRS is too busy dunning honest taypayers for every cent they can squeeze.

[rabscuttle385]

Chertoff said one Swift-related ID theft victims had been arrested in Texas because his imposter had committed crimes. Other had multiple loans and credit cards taken out in their names, and had their credit ruined.

Folks, when banks and other financial institutions issue credit cards, they rarely if ever check if the information supplied (like income, address, etc.) is actually valid. Defaults, fraud, ID theft, etc. are built in as costs of the business and passed on to law-abiding, paying customers in the form of higher fees, higher interest rates, etc.

All of us pay for these "cheap salads" in the form of higher banking fees, higher interest rates, higher auto insurance rates, higher taxes, etc.

At the end of the day, turns out those salads are pretty damn expensive.

[TomGuy]

And over the entire 10-year span, federal agencies like the IRS and the Social Security Administration could have detected suspicious use of her Social Security number, since they were collecting taxes from multiple jobs at multiple locations. But it is not the policy of either agency to warn consumers that their number might have been been stolen.

Something isn't adding up in this story.

If the SSN had SS income, that amount would show up in the documentation for said SSN.

Sanchez would receive annual SS reports that would show total income applied to her SSN. Surely, she would have noticed an erroneous $120,000 showing up on her account.

[TomGuy]

Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff complained that his agency is legally barred from communication with the Social Security Administration about Social Security numbers that are used twice.

Who built this wall?

[CrawDaddyCA]

Why is an illegal alien entitled to a special protection from jail that the rest of us aren't if we commit fraud?

OUTSTANDING question!! That's my main issue with these criminals. As American citizens, we'd be thrown in jail, but the illegal alien criminals always seem to get a free pass.

[The KG9 Kid]

What's that? Dane said that illegal aliens amount to 'victimless crime'? No, not Dane. You must have misinterpreted something he said or took it out of context. Perhaps you're thinking of some *other* Dane?

The Dane I know believes that marijuana is the weed with the roots in Hell and causes untold deaths per annum and that 'pushers' of marijuana should be executed.

Knowing what we know about illegal aliens as a source of violent crime, I find it very difficult to believe that Dane would be so irrational to think that illegal aliens amount to 'victimless crime', as you stated. Certainly illegal aliens kill more than marijuana ever has, particularly illegal aliens that smuggle marijuana into the United States. That's got to be a super-double capital crime as Dane sees it, Lurker.

No no... You must have mistaken him, Lurker. I am confident that our Dane is vehemently opposed to illegal aliens doing illegal things. Please don't put words in his mouth. I am sure that he wants to send all illegal aliens back across the border where they came from by the surest and swiftest means available.

Isn't that right, Dane? Tell Lurker so. I stand right behind you, sir.