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The United States is currently undergoing the largest wave of immigration in over a century, reports CBS news on April 20. But what makes this wave like no other is that so much of it is illegal. There are approximately 11 million illegal immigrants now in the United States. That equals the population of Ohio. These immigrants are coming for jobs, of course. But to be hired by an American factory, they need documents. So a black market of identities for sale has sprung up and has spread from the Southwest, where Hispanic immigrants used to settle, to places in...

Three admit trying to sell documents to Iranians Ring broken up by undercover agents By SERGIO CHAPA The Brownsville Herald February 24, 2005 — Three members of an alleged ring accused of attempting to sell fake immigration documents to Iranian nationals pleaded guilty in federal court to various counts of fraud and identity theft. Port Isabel residents Roberto Aburto, his wife Azalia Gaona, Miriam Palestina and Rutilio Marquez are accused taking $1,050 to make fake Social Security cards and green cards in August for three Iranian men. Aburto, 31, Gaona, 27, and Palestina, 26, were arrested during two Sept. 9...

Illegal license holders had 26 accidents By Alicia Caldwell and Michael Riley Denver Post Staff Writers More than two dozen students of a Weld County truck- driving school illegally obtained commercial driver's licenses and were later blamed for nearly 200 traffic and regulatory violations, including 26 accidents, investigators say. Twenty-seven students who attended the school, Careers World Wide, used false personal information to get training permits and other documents from the state Division of Motor Vehicles, a federal agent says in court documents. All dealt with Janet Gonzalez, a license examiner in Northglenn who has been arrested and accused of...

01-26-05 By Taft Wireback, Staff Writer News & Record North Carolina examiners should not aggressively investigate illegal immigrants who might be seeking fraudulent driver's licenses, a top state executive suggested in a memo nearly two years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. In fact, Wayne Hurder, who supervises the state's driver-license section for the state Division of Motor Vehicles in Raleigh, sent an e-mail message in August 2003 criticizing some of his DMV officials for being too aggressive with immigrants who presented identification and other documents that examiners thought suspicious. "As I stated for the last nine years, the fact...

By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN Associated Press Writer January 15, 2005, 5:30 PM EST BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- Tracy Lucas-Stevenson earned $40,000 as a state motor vehicle employee, so she raised investiators' eyebrows when an acquaintance said she bragged about buying a Lincoln Navigator, a pool and a new kitchen within a year. What authorities uncovered was a web of illegal immigrants, shady middlemen with names like "Chile" and "El Gordo" and motor vehicle examiners like Lucas-Stevenson who are accused of issuing illegal driver's licenses. Connecticut had developed a reputation from as far away as Florida as a place where people could buy...

ARIS, May 29 — Italian and German investigators have disclosed fresh information suggesting that hints of an attack involving aircraft and the United States were more widespread among European law enforcement agencies before Sept. 11 than previously suspected.The disclosures come after weeks in which the Bush administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which announced a shake-up today, have come under sharp criticism that they did not pay sufficient heed to signs of Al Qaeda plots in the United States that may have alerted them to the Sept. 11 attacks.A Central Intelligence Agency spokesman said today that before Sept....

CANDOR — To all appearances, Cecil P. Saffle ran a legitimate business as a translator and intermediary for Montgomery County's growing Latino population. (Randy Jones shows a handful of the fake IDs being held as evidence in the Alamance County Sheriff's Department in Graham. Law enforcement officials have made several busts recently.) But authorities allege that in a back room of the Main Street Shopping Center, where his offices were, the 60-year-old Saffle carried out the real, money-making end of his operation: making counterfeit IDs for illegal aliens and others who wanted to create false, separate identities. "Our whole business...

Six charged with supplying fake ids to immigrants This story ran on nwitimes.com on Wednesday, October 20, 2004 12:44 PM CDT CHICAGO (AP) -- Six men of Middle Eastern descent from the Chicago area were charged with helping illegal immigrants trying to conceal their legal status obtain fraudulent Social Security cards and Illinois driver's licenses, prosecutors said. Hundreds of people used addresses associated with the defendants to secure the fake documents, according to a criminal complaint made public Tuesday in U.S. District Court. Naser Kawash, 38, allegedly made thousands of dollars for helping as many as 900 foreign nationals from...

ROME (AP) — Italian police are trying to learn if a document-forging operation in Turin served as a logistical base for al-Qaida, authorities said Monday. The document center, an apartment in a Turin neighborhood populated by many illegal immigrants, was raided in December, said Luciano Nigro, a Turin police precinct chief, and investigation into its operations have been going on since. On Monday, La Stampa, a Turin daily, reported that police believe the place furnished documents for recruits for al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden's terrorist network. ``I don't have proof,'' Nigro told The Associated Press, but ``we are investigating.'' Nigro said...

The US House Aviation Subcommittee yesterday heard how congressional investigators used false IDs to gain access to a series of federal buildings and two commercial airports, and how a copy of the report detailing their success was later found in an al-Qaida cave in Afghanistan. The investigators were 100 per cent successful in getting past security, but apparently less so in the case of their own report's security. Subcommittee Chairman John Mica told a hearing on biometric ID in aviation that the deployment of more secure ID needed to be accelerated, given that terrorists are interested in gaining access to...

13 Arrested In Port Canaveral Security Breach Illegal Immigrants Allegedly Use Fake Ids To Get Badges Federal agents in Central Florida arrested 13 illegal immigrants for allegedly using fake IDs to gain access to highly sensitive and secure areas of Port Canaveral, according to Local 6 News. A 2-month long investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement found that the men apparently used false social security numbers to get security badges. They then used the badges to gain access certain areas of Port Canaveral, according to authorities. "Did they have unlimted access? No, they did not," Florida Department of...

Local abortion lawsuit may change policies at clinics ABC13 Eyewitness News (3/31/04 - HOUSTON) — A lawsuit that could bring some big policy changes to abortion clinics across the nation will soon go to trial in Houston. Cherise Hughes is now a mother of two. She admits to using a fake ID to get an abortion when she was just 17. She is now suing the clinic that performed it, claiming no-one questioned her age beyond taking a look at that fake ID. "I was scared and not thinking straight and I wish I would have had someone to...

<p>March 14, 2004 -- Psst: Wanna buy an NYPD or FBI badge that could fool authorities?</p> <p>The eBay online auction site had at least three realistic-looking badges for sale last week, complete with official-looking leather holders and identification cards.</p> <p>One seller, who called himself "M-itch," offered a gold FBI badge with a black leather FBI holder wallet embossed with the fabled agency's insignia. It also boasted an authenic-looking identification card. In six days, it received 21 bids and was up to $115 on Friday.</p>

<p>PATERSON, N.J. — A man who allegedly sold fake IDs to two of the Sept. 11 hijackers apparently fled the country for Egypt just before authorities came to arrest him in a raid on his home and businesses Wednesday, investigators said.</p>

<p>If Osama bin Laden sneaked into our country illegally, bought fake immigration papers and changed his name to Osmundo Ben Ladeno, could he join the U.S. military?</p> <p>You betcha.</p> <p>Last week, the Army announced that Pvt. Juan Escalante, a 19-year-old illegal alien from Mexico who had used a $50 bogus green card to enlist, would be allowed to remain in the armed forces.</p>

False ID documents bring prison sentence By MICHELLE WASHINGTON, The Virginian-Pilot © July 15, 2003 | Last updated 9:33 PM Jul. 14 NORFOLK -- A Chesapeake resident who had been investigated by federal agents for having several false identification documents was sentenced Monday to 15 months in prison on a weapon charge and for using a fake Social Security number. Mohammed A. Samarah, originally from Jordan, came to the attention of the region's Joint Terrorism Task Force after an auto mechanic found identifications with different names but the same photograph in March 2002. The mechanic called the FBI. Samarah was...

PATERSON, N.J. (AP) - Secret evidence presented in a closed court session alleged that a man who sold fake IDs to two of the Sept. 11 hijackers had closer ties to terrorism than previously revealed, according to transcripts released Tuesday. In the end, authorities found no evidence to bring terrorism charges against Mohamad El-Atriss, and U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie said Tuesday that El-Atriss "is not considered a threat to national security by us." In a plea bargain, El-Atriss was sentenced in March to five years' probation and fined $15,000 for selling phony documents. El-Atriss and his lawyer on Tuesday...

Sources: Suspect Bought Used Car With False ID Just Before Arrest LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Accused double murderer Scott Peterson used an alias to purchase a used car in San Diego shortly before he was arrested, raising the possibility that he may have been trying to cover his tracks before fleeing, KNSD, the NBC affiliate in San Diego, learned. Three independent sources confirmed that Scott Peterson bought a car under suspicious circumstances less than two weeks ago, NBC's Steve Walker reported. None of the sources would appear on camera, but all of them agreed that the revelation is more evidence...

<p>Two former coworkers testified Wednesday that a defendant in the Detroit terrorism trial asked whether they could help him obtain fraudulent visas and other identification documents for friends.</p> <p>"He asked if I could get ahold of ID -- Social Security cards, birth certificates," Keith Reid, 37, a former sanitation employee of LSG Sky Chefs, said of Karim Koubriti, 24, of Detroit. "I took it to mean illegal ID"</p>

2 men arrested in Roanoke; suspected of false identity The FBI had been searching for the men after they were seen taking pictures of a dam in Tennessee. By SHAWNA MORRISON THE ROANOKE TIMES Two men who were wanted by the FBI for allegedly using false information to obtain Virginia driver's licenses were arrested in Roanoke on Monday. One of the brothers had been seen taking pictures of a Tennessee dam early Sunday morning, raising the suspicion of authorities. Ahmed Helmy Mostafa, also known as Ahmed Mohammed Elsakaan or Ahmed Mohammed Helmy Elsakaan, and an unidentified woman were spotted taking...