When most people think of illegal aliens, they think about someone fleeing from the economically depressed economy of Mexico and coming to the United States for a better life. But more is involved than just sneaking across the border. More is involved than these same illegals sending their children to school which is being financed by American taxpayers. More is involved than these illegals depressing the wages of the lower wage earners. These people many times do more than just illegally come into the United States; they also break laws to stay and work here. To gain employment, the worker needs a social security number which for these illegal aliens can be bought in either the immigrant communities in the United States or in Mexico. Unfortunately this opens a whole new world to the illegal alien, allowing them not only to gain employment, but to borrow money and obtain a credit card. The New York Times has an article in which the author, John Leland, tries to ride the fence on this issue, justifying illegal aliens using these illegally obtained social security cards on one hand while admitting the problems on the other.
Camber Lybbert thought it was a mistake when her bank told her that her daughter’s Social Security number was on its files for two credit cards and two auto loans, with an outstanding balance of more than $25,000. Her daughter is 3 years old.
The Lybberts go on to say they only spent 30 hours a week for three or four months to clear the debt from their three year old daughter’s credit. Only! Thirty hours a week is a good part-time job.
The three year old girl is no longer responsible for the debt, but what they do not mention is that the entire episode is not cleared from her record, only explained. Their daughter at the tender age of three already has a credit history, all because of an illegally obtain social security card by an illegal alien.
As far as I know, I have never had my social security card stolen, but I have had checks stolen from three different accounts. I took more than two years to clear up that mess. My daughter has had credit cards issued in her name to three different addresses all in the Hispanic area of my hometown. That was four months ago and we are still fighting that battle including idiotic collection agencies who really think I should make payments on these delinquent accounts until the matter is resolved. The police act is if they have better things to do than to chase down illegal aliens using fraudulently obtained social security cards. Social security theft is NOT a victimless crime. Lives and credit histories can be ruined.
“It’s clear that it is a different intent or purpose than trying to get someone’s MasterCard and charge it up, knowing they’re going to get the bill,” said Richard Hamp, an assistant attorney general in Utah. “But it has some similarities. It goes on the other person’s credit record. Illegals are filing for bankruptcy, using someone else’s number. I had one 78-year-old with three defaults on houses she never owned.”
The Federal Trade Commission, which estimates that 10 million Americans have their identities stolen each year, does not distinguish between people who steal Social Security numbers so they can work and those who are out to steal money. Illegal immigrants make up nearly one of every 20 workers in America, according to estimates by the Pew Hispanic Center, and most are working under fraudulent Social Security numbers, which can be bought in any immigrant community or in Mexico.
These are huge numbers. If the illegal aliens were content to just use these cards to obtain employment would be one thing, but to use them to borrow money and obtain credit cards is another thing entirely. Lost in this discussion is that using an illegally obtained social security card is a felony and for good reason. Lives can be destroyed by the improper use of these cards.
“We’ve had this ridiculous situation where, theoretically, this information could be shared and we could identify these people and repair the situation,” said Marti Dinerstein, a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, a nonprofit organization that supports tighter restrictions on immigration. “Falsely using a Social Security number is a felony. Our own federal agencies are working against those laws. The I.R.S. says privacy laws prevent them from sharing information. So we know who the guilty employers are. The I.R.S. knows who the guilty employees are. And nothing’s being done about it.”
The law which disallows the IRS from sharing this information with the proper authorities needs to change. As the following paragraph shows, people’s lives are being damaged by the illegal use of social security numbers.
When the numbers belong to children, the problems can start when they turn 18, said Jay Foley, a founder and director of the Identity Theft Resource Center in San Diego, a nonprofit organization that helps victims and proposes legislation. “Now the child goes for student loans or jobs, and the companies say, ‘You’ve got a problem of bad credit. We aren’t going to touch you.’ ”
From now on, my daughter will have these falsely obtained credit cards and debt on her credit history and there is not a thing she can do about it.
Without going into the issue of how the illegal aliens broke the law to enter this country, what does all of this mean? It means that illegal aliens are not just depressing wages, they are not just absorbing social funds intended for Americans for welfare, for hospitalization and to educate their children. Illegal aliens are also using illegally obtained social security cards and are ruining lives by borrowing money with an assumed identity with no intention of paying the debt. When most illegal aliens are using these illegally obtained social security numbers, this is not a victimless crime. This is yet another reason to oppose illegal immigration.
Tags: Immigration by Chuck
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