The Big Lie concerning Comprehensive Immigration Reform is that it
will have marginal effects on the wealth and living standards of legal
American workers or the ecological systems that sustain them.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Last year the population of the United States had just passed the 300
Million mark and we are already seeing signs of ecological stress as a
result of this unprecedented acceleration in population growth.
Concurrent with this trend we are also seeing a hollowing out of the
Middle Class as jobs are either outsourced to other countries or foreign
Visa holders are being welcomed to the United States to take our
diminishing number of good paying jobs. In addition to this we are
seeing a historic increase in illegal unskilled workers entering the
United States from our southern neighbor, Mexico. None of these
trends bode well for the American worker.
Beginning in 2006 we finally began to see signs of
outrage on the part of the American worker as they begin to understand
the implications of these trends. In fact it was this very outrage
that prevented the passage of Comprehensive Immigration Reform legislation
in 2006. Despite this trend it
is clear that the US Congress will make another attempt at passing a
Comprehensive Reform Bill that will further exacerbate these trends.
We must not allow this Corporate driven agenda to move forward at any
cost..
There is no longer any doubt that our elected leaders have betrayed
their constituency of America's working citizens.
The strongest argument we have, against the Corporate driven push for
a North American Union and Comprehensive Immigration Reform is quietly
ignored by the media because there are no good arguments to refute it.
And this irrefutable argument is easily summarized by the phrase,
Unsustainable Population Growth. I am including Roy Beck's video
presentation, "Population by the Numbers," once again, as it does such a
great job at explaining the problem.
A second myth promulgated by proponents of Comprehensive Immigration
Reform (e.g., Amnesty for Immigrants that have come here illegally) is
that there is no way to stem the flow of these illegal immigrants.
"If you build a 20 foot fence, they will merely bring a 21 foot ladder,"
is one of the simplistic jingoisms that you hear from these groups.
But again there IS a solution that the Corporate-owned media doesn't
want to discuss. And that solution is predicated on determining
the true status of every single worker that is employed within the
United States.
To help you understand the current situation I have included the
article, "Illegals
buying stolen identities." A careful
read of this article will reveal just how disingenuous our government
has been when it comes to identifying illegal immigrants. Not only
have they been guilty of benign neglect, when it comes to pursuing
illegal immigrants. They have actually devised a system that
willfully hides the illegal immigrants from our view. This
treasonous system has been in place for years at the Internal Revenue
Service (IRS), the Social Security Administration (SSA) and through our
Credit Bureaus.
This system insures that, if an illegal worker uses your Social
Security Number, you will never find out about it. Yet the fact
that they have implemented such a system reveals another big lie on the
part of our government. Not only do they know who the "illegal's"
are. They also know where they work, where they live and how much
income they are generating. This system that our Congress has
implemented is but another indication that they have absolutely no
regard for the citizens of this great country. They implemented
this system specifically to allow millions of illegal workers to come
here, take our jobs and drive down our wages and benefits. This
conclusion will be obvious from reading the article. This system
of employee verification needs to be re-engineered immediately so that
the true status of each employee and voter is known with absolute
verifiability.
As a Systems Analyst I am absolutely confident that we can identify
the majority of illegal aliens within the United States by merely
scrutinizing those employees who have invalid or duplicate Social
Security Numbers. I recall a Lou Dobbs show where one group stated
such a system could be made operational for under 5 Billion dollars.
We are currently spending 8 Billion dollars in Iraq every single month.
So I would encourage you to view the video "Population by the
Numbers" and then read the article "Illegals buying stolen
identities." Once you understand that we cannot sustain further
population growth and once you understand that we can identify the
majority of the illegal's, please share this information with your
friends and co-workers. The ramifications of "Comprehensive
Immigration Reform" put the future of the United States in grave peril.
This legislation MUST be stopped.
In future issues I will attempt to divine a more detailed strategy.
The loss of high-tech
manufacturing in the United States has put our nation at risk
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0612/15/ldt.01.html
Comment: So what happens as our relationship with China declines?
What happens if, as I predict, we eventually find ourselves at war with
China? We must wean ourselves off of foreign dependencies.
We must never allow the manufacture of any critical military component
to a foreign government, but especially to a foreign government that is
building a military capable of challenging our own military. It is
my hope that through tariffs, sanctions and other initiatives, we can
reclaim our autonomy and avert a war with China. A related concern
is whether our Multi-National Corporations have already entered into
accords with China that will bring them fortune at the direct expense to
the living standards of American workers. One could argue that we
are will on our way.
The loss of high-tech manufacturing in the United States has put our
nation at risk. It's not only the loss of jobs here, but many components
of defense projects are now produced overseas. And the situation may get
worse as foreign control of companies making our products for our
nation's defense increases. Lisa Sylvester reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The United States is no
longer the leading manufacturer of many critical military components.
Japan, China and Russia have advanced, Capturing Leads in carbon fiber,
titanium and electronics machinery.
The United States is down to only one manufacturer of carbon fiber used
in the manufacturing of ships. There are only three U.S. titanium
producers left.
REP. DUNCAN HUNTER (R-CA), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: The idea
of being subservient to a former supplier for the military hardware
means at some point you may be a prisoner to his foreign policy.
SYLVESTER: The United States' reliance on foreign suppliers is reflected
in the latest trade deficits. The trade deficit in advanced technology
products soared 15 percent in the month of October alone. The U.S.
annual trade deficit with China in computer hardware is $25 billion and
growing. And electronics machinery and parts, $23 billion.
ALAN TONELSON, U.S. BUSINESS & INDUSTRY COUNCIL: The United States is
running a substantial and growing risk of not being able to access
various military capabilities and not being able to build various
weapons systems when we need them.
SYLVESTER: At the start of the Iraq war, U.S. smart bombs were in short
supply because a key component was made in Switzerland. That country
temporarily cut off delivery because it opposed U.S. foreign policy.
More recently, the U.S. government says steel shortages have made it
difficult to up-armor military Humvees.
HUNTER: We only have a couple of companies in the United States that
make that armor and one of them, I'm told yesterday, is now being
purchased by the Russians.
SYLVESTER: Oregon steel is only one of two companies left in the United
States that make steel for the U.S. Humvees.
The Russian Everase (ph) Group is in the final stages of taking it over.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SYLVESTER: Critics say the United States is not only selling off its
defense manufacturing base, it is also at the same time arming possible
future rivals -- Kitty.
How illegal immigration and
political correctness are destroying the middle class.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0612/14/gb.01.html
Comment: As much as I don't agree with Glen Beck, on many things, we
do share concerns about Islamic Fundamentalism and Immigration.
This transcript talks about the origins of "Political Correctness" going
back to Russia's Lenin. It goes on to talk about recent threats
against Tancredo, a staunch opponent to Comprehensive Immigration
Reform, which resulted in the canceling of one of his speaking
engagements.
GLENN BECK, HOST: All right, coming up, how illegal immigration and
political correctness are destroying the middle class.
Plus Penn Jillette from Penn & Teller drops by to talk about profiling.
Politically correct. You bet. That and more next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Tonight`s episode is brought to you by the Radish Council of
America. Savory, delicious radishes. The only vegetable that won`t kill
you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: I`ve got to tell you, it`s great to be back in New York. My
Christmas comedy tour is almost finished. We have two more shows over
the weekend. Our long, national nightmare will soon be over. At least
that national nightmare.
But illegal immigration and political correctness, those nightmares
continue, and we need to wake up quickly. Nearly 1,300 employees of
Swift and Company, their meat packing plants across the country, were
arrested in massive immigration sweeps on Tuesday. It`s all well and
good, but the illegal immigrants were probably coming every here to feed
their families.
The real criminals: the Swift Company, which hired all of these illegal
workers, did they get charged with anything? No. The CEO of Swift said
that his company doesn`t condone the practice of hiring illegals.
Really? Gee, you could fool me. In fact, fool me once, shame on me. Fool
me 1,300 times, shame on you, Swift.
Here`s the point tonight. Illegal immigration is a huge issue that is
going to lead to the destruction of our middle class if we don`t talk
about the problem and solve it.
The problem here is, though, when somebody does talk about it, not only
are they shouted down, called racists, but their lives now are being
threatened.
Here`s how I got there. Last month Colorado Representative Tommy
Tancredo touched on a wave of controversy when he likened Miami to a
third world country, mostly because of illegal immigration and a lack of
assimilation. Tancredo was invited to speak at a Florida restaurant this
past week, but his appearance was cancelled when the restaurant
apparently began receiving death threats. That`s right, death threats.
Now, you can disagree with Tancredo all you want. Engage in that robust
debate that makes us quintessentially American. But threaten to
assassinate someone because you don`t like his point of view? That
actually does sound something like you would find in a third world
country.
Political correctness has its roots in the old Soviet Union. I don`t
know if you know this. Back then in the beginning of the Soviet Union,
if someone was caught saying something that was out of line with Lenin`s
thinking, according to Trotsky, they`d be taken away for reeducation
until they were politically correct. That`s where it came from. And
that`s exactly what`s happening today in America.
You know, how can we live in a country that can`t debate things anymore?
We`re going to disagree. But we don`t have to be disagreeable about it.
Let`s not threaten to kill each other.
While Miami might not be a third world country yet, as Tommy Tancredo
suggested, something dire is definitely happening in Miami and many
cities all across the country.
And what`s happening? The middle class is disappearing, which is what
happens when you have a lot of money in the hands of a few people while
many people live in extreme poverty. This cannot stand. It will spell
collapse. It may not be politically correct to say it, but it`s true.
So here`s what I know tonight. The illegal immigrants at the Swift
Company should be arrested and returned to their home country. But to
really stop the problem, the demand must go away. And the only way to do
that is to do what Ronald Reagan suggested in the `80s, severely punish
the companies that hire illegals.
I also know we must be able to have a civil debate in this country
without calling each other racists or threatening each others` lives.
Our real enemies are overseas. They are -- they are counting on us
splitting here in America. And the more we split ourselves from each
other, the more vulnerable we become.
Illegal immigration is a small but vital part of what I have been
calling, "the perfect storm." It is coming.
Now, here`s what I don`t know. How far and deep will political
correctness go? How long will it be before we, as a nation, collectively
stand up against the forces of political correctness which will lead to
our destruction?
With me now is Mario Loyola. He is from the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies.
Mario, what is it I`m missing here?
MARIO LOYOLA, FOUNDATION FOR DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES: I think the most
important thing to remember about what Congressman Tancredo said is that
he made himself look a lot worse than he made Miami look.
I mean, Miami is an ultra modern, ultra cosmopolitan city, probably as
cosmopolitan as any city he`s ever been to. So you know, to limit
Congressman Tancredo`s right to make himself look like a country bumpkin
is not something anybody should do out of concern for Latino
sensibilities. That`s for sure.
BECK: OK. I think we`re coming to a point here where we are -- where we
don`t have freedom of speech anymore. We have freedom from speech. And
you kind of just touched on this. Where everybody is -- everybody is
"Oh, I`m offended." Well, you have a right to be offended, and I have a
right to offend you in America.
Don`t you think that we`ve gone from freedom of religion to freedom from
religion and freedom of speech to freedom from speech?
LOYOLA: That`s right. And freedom -- the freedom from being offended by
absolutely anything that anyone may say or think around you has gone way
too far. And because it turns out to be just an excuse to tyrannize.
I mean, I remember, I went to the University of Wisconsin, which is the
Stalin version of political correctness. And then I mean, I heard
someone say we were looking at apartments one day and I heard someone --
one of the people that was -- one of our roommates was talking about --
future roommates, was talking about how in this house we want to keep
our speech gender neutral. Well, that excludes all Latinos, because
Latinos spend all their time talking about women. So what else are we
supposed to talk about?
BECK: So what kills me is -- I mean, if you lived in Madison, oh, you`ve
seen the worse of the worse. We just had this at Columbus University,
where you had -- what do you call the guys who are sitting on the
border, the patriots -- what do you call it? You know what I`m talking
about. The Minutemen, thank you. I could only think of the patriots. The
Minutemen, their went to go speak -- the head guy of the Minutemen went
to go speak on the border and the socialists overrun and turned over the
podium.
LOYOLA: Yes. It was assault. It was simply assault what they did. And by
the way, Columbia University has released no statement around whether
these kids who committed criminal assault under the laws of New York are
being prosecuted, whether -- you know, Bollinger is nowhere to be seen,
the head of the university.
And people really need to pay attention to the university aspect of
this. Because a lot of kids like me, who may not be of a super-liberal
vent, see what the climate of opinion is of the faculty and decide not
to study Ph.D.s in history.
BECK: That`s exactly what happened to you, isn`t it, Mario? If I`m not
mistaken, you wanted to be a Ph.D. in history and you knew, "I`m not
going to be welcome here."
LOYOLA: Yes. I mean, I just -- all I did was -- once I understood the
disagreements that the professors in the history department were having
amongst each other, I realized that it was exactly the same
disagreements that we were having at the age of 18 plus, you know, more
sophisticated vocabulary.
BECK: OK.
LOYOLA: And that just didn`t seem smart to me.
BECK: Mario, you said, I read someplace that you believe that the
solution to illegal immigration is leveling the playing field. When I
read that I thought, well, gee, that`s kind of what`s happening, except
we`re not bringing Mexico up. Mexico is bringing us down because we`re
destroying our middle class here in America.
You can`t have a wildly uneducated poverty-driven society like it is now
in Los Angeles, and expect that to last. Can you?
LOYOLA: Well, I think that -- don`t -- don`t underestimate the capacity
of the American economy and of American civilization, really, to bring
these people up to a very high standard of living.
I mean, in Miami, for example, I think that the immigrant population has
a higher level of general education and standard of living than the
average American. So -- and they arrived here with just what they had in
their suitcases.
So I think that the important thing is to eliminate the -- the supply
from Mexico of labor that can`t be used in Mexico because of the -- a
lot of archaic protectionist economic policies that they have in Mexico,
bring Mexico`s economy up, while eliminating drying up, like Reagan
said, the demand in the United States, by making sure that employers
audit and take a close look at the people that they`re hiring.
BECK: Mario, thank you very much. I appreciate it. And you know,
political correctness is rearing its ugly head everywhere. Now it`s
starting to rear its ugly head in Christmas again.
But you know what? I want to go right on record and say -- sorry, this
holiday -- sorry, this Christmas season, I`m refusing to cave in to
political correctness.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: We here at GLENN BECK would like to wish you and yours a very
merry Christmas. Oh, and of course, a happy Hanukkah and good Kwanzaa.
Can`t forget the Muslims. All right. Here goes nothing. From all of us
at GLENN BECK, happy Kamahanukwanzmas.
What? I left out the pagans? OK, how`s this? Happy fricking winter. Yes,
that sounds good.
Henry Rollins "America’s
Internet is under attack."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wnexu_eGyYs&mode=related&search=
Comment: I'm sure Rollins would also disapprove of McCain's Bill to
destroy the free exchange of ideas that the Internet has so successfully
fostered. As I have said before, the Internet is the logical
successor to the Library of Alexandria: also destroyed by those that
wanted to subvert true knowledge.
Bruce W. Cain
McCain Bill Is Lethal
Injection For Internet Freedom
Comment: The fact that McCain would even have anything to do with
this bill is sufficient to disqualify him from consideration as a
presidential candidate in 2008.
Bruce W. Cain
Exploits fear of sexual predators and basic
misunderstanding of Internet to attack blogs critical of the
warmongering agenda he fronts for
http://www.propagandamatrix.com/articles/december2006/151206mccainbill.htm
Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet Friday, December 15, 2006
Republican Senator John McCain has introduced legislation that would
fine blogs up to $300,000 for offensive statements, photos and videos
posted by visitors on comment boards, effectively nixing the open
exchange of ideas on the Internet, providing a lethal injection for
unrestrained opinion, and acting as the latest attack tool to chill
freedom of speech on the world wide web.
McCain's proposal, called the "Stop the Online Exploitation of Our
Children Act," encourages informants to shop website owners to the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, who then pass the
information on to the relevant police authorities.
Comment boards for specific articles are extremely popular and also
notoriously hard to moderate. Popular articles often receive comments
that run into the thousands over the course of time. In many cases,
individuals hostile to the writer's argument deliberately leave obscene
comments and images simply to sully the reputation of the website
owners. Therefore under the terms of this bill, right-wing extremists
from a website like Free Republic could effectively terminate a liberal
leaning website like Raw Story by the act of posting a single photograph
of a naked child. This precedent could be the kiss of death for blogs as
we know them and its reverberations would negatively impact the entire
Internet.
Under the banner of saving the children from sexual predators, McCain is
obviously on a mission to stamp out the influence of the burgeoning
blogosphere and its increasing hostility to the warmongering agenda that
he fronts for.
"This constitutionally dubious proposal is being made apparently mostly
based on fear or political considerations rather than on the facts,"
warns Kevin Bankston, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier
Foundation in San Francisco.
McCain has publicly expressed his distaste for blogs in the past and
this is why any protestation that he is simply aiming to "protect the
children" with this legislation falls on deaf ears.
In a May 2006 speech at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, McCain
attacked the blogosphere as a refuge of those only infatuated with
self-expression. He was trying to minimize the importance of the last
true outpost of freedom of speech, the Internet, and portray it as
nothing more than a swap shop for egos and hyperbole.
So if the blogosphere is nothing more than a bulletin board for
self-important know it alls, what possible threat could that be to young
children? Where is the evidence that kids are being victimized by people
who post comments on blogs?
There is no evidence but that doesn't really matter when you consider
that a sizable portion of Congress critters who will be voting on this
legislation if it comes to pass, don't even know what the Internet
itself is (it's not a big truck), never mind how it's used. And then a
sizable majority of the remaining House members probably hate the
blogosphere as much as McCain, because it has replaced the lapdog
mainstream media in acting as the 4th estate in muckraker reporting,
anti-war protest, and holding public officials to task.
In reality, sexual predators have always confined their grooming to live
chat rooms, or in the case of Republican pervert Mark Foley, instant
messaging and PDA's. Pedophiles are never going to leave a record of
their sordid advances on message boards because in most cases, their IP
address and location can be obtained immediately from the server log.
And as reported by C Net, "Studies by the National Center for Missing
and Exploited Children show the online sexual solicitation of minors has
dropped in the past five years, despite the growth of social-networking
services."
McCain's proposed bill is just another step in greasing the skids for
Internet 2, a tightly controlled, regulated and privileged world wide
web where government approval will be required just to run a blog.
In recent months, a chorus of propaganda intended to demonize the
Internet and lead it down this path has spewed forth from numerous
establishment organs.
- The White House's own recently de-classified strategy for "winning the
war on terror" targets Internet conspiracy theories as a recruiting
ground for terrorists and threatens to "diminish" their influence.
- The Pentagon recently announced its effort to infiltrate the Internet
and propagandize for the war on terror.
- In a speech last month, Homeland Security director Michael Chertoff
identified the web as a "terror training camp," through which
"disaffected people living in the United States" are developing "radical
ideologies and potentially violent skills." Chertoff pledged to dispatch
Homeland Security agents to local police departments in order to aid in
the apprehension of domestic terrorists who use the Internet as a
political tool.
- In an interview with Fox News last month, Bush senior slammed Internet
bloggers for creating an "adversarial and ugly climate."
- A landmark legal case on behalf of the Recording Industry Association
of America and other global trade organizations seeks to criminalize all
Internet file sharing of any kind as copyright infringement, effectively
shutting down the world wide web - and their argument is supported by
the U.S. government.
- The European Union, led by former Stalinist and potential future
British Prime Minister John Reid, has also vowed to shut down
"terrorists" who use the Internet to spread propaganda.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16092527/
Two workers bought Edwards man's social security number and other
documents
By J.K. Perry Vail Daily Online Dec. 7
Edwards - Jeremy Lepore lost his Social Security number and identity to
illegal immigrants. The 27-year-old Edwards resident misplaced his
wallet in Denver earlier this year. He kissed the Social Security card,
credit cards and other items inside good-bye. And in May, the Internal
Revenue Service sent Lepore a letter asking for $4,600 in unpaid taxes
for three jobs in Golden, Colo. and Wisconsin that he had never held.
Two illegal immigrants had used Lepore's Social Security number to get
jobs, he said.
"I literally was dumbfounded because I had no idea this was possible,"
Lepore said.
Instances of identity theft by illegal immigrants are common in Eagle
County, Avon police Det. Paul Arnold said.
"I'd say probably about three quarters of the illegals I've dealt with
here get false documents," Arnold said. "With the number of illegals
here in the valley, I'd say there are thousands of them."
The crime, Arnold said, usually goes something like this:
Jeremy Lepore had his social security number stolen and had been accused
of owing $4,600 in unpaid taxes because two illegal immigrants used
identity to get jobs.
Someone obtains social security numbers from the trash, with electronic
machines that read information on credit cards or by other means. The
criminal sells the numbers to a forger who produces fake alien
registration and Social Security cards. An illegal immigrant then buys
the fraudulent identification to get a job.
"It's become an industry for some people," Arnold said. "They can sell
an identity for $500."
The identities often are sold to more than one person. In Lepore's case,
his identity was given to two illegal immigrants who each claimed nine
dependents at three jobs.
The high number of dependents lowered those worker's taxes so they'd
have more take-home pay, Arnold said.
The breadth of the ordeal really hit Lepore when he saw both illegals'
California drivers licenses with their pictures and his name on them.
"It was just absolutely insane," Lepore said.
Nabbing illegal immigrants with false identification is often difficult,
Arnold said. Police and business representatives often can't tell the
documents are fake and some businesses knowingly ignore fraudulent
identification, he said.
In other cases, businesses don't photocopy a new hire's identification
or make an employee fill out the proper tax forms, Arnold said. Without
the photocopies and tax forms, police can't prove the business hired
illegally, he said.
"It doesn't help us that employers hire people knowing they're illegal
to pay them less wages," Arnold said.
There are major employers in the valley who practice these slights of
hand, although Arnold refused to disclose the employers.
In 2001, Avon police arrested illegal immigrant Armando Mendoza for
using a Texas man's identity to get a job at a local hotel, an Avon
police report shows. Federal agents deported Mendoza, but he returned to
Avon. The hotel rehired Mendoza, who again used the Texas man's
identity, the report says.
Arnold arrested Mendoza in January. He was subsequently deported.
Mendoza told police the hotel never required him to produce
identification to get the job, the report shows.
If an illegal immigrant is caught using someone's identity, they can be
charged with forgery, criminal impersonation or identity theft. Often
the criminal is deported in lieu of prison, but if an illegal immigrant
returns to the United States they can be sent to prison, Arnold said.
Lepore had to obtain evidence from several sources to prove to the IRS
the two illegals weren't him. In August, the government agency absolved
Lepore. However, for the rest of his life, Lepore must constantly check
his credit to ensure no one else is using his identity.
He signed up for an identity theft program through his bank which red
flags suspicious credit activity. He recommends other people do the same
to avoid identity theft.
Lepore is fairly confident his identity might again be stolen, he said.
"There are going to be a lot more attack years," Lepore said. "It's just
a reality I have to face."
The secret list of ID theft victims
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16170880/
Consumers could be warned, but U.S government isn't talking
By Bob Sullivan Technology correspondent MSNBC
Updated: 1:24 p.m. ET Dec 12, 2006
Linda Trevino, who lives in a Chicago suburb, applied for a job in 2004
at a local Target department store, and was denied. The reason? She
already worked there — or rather, her Social Security number already
worked there.
Follow-up investigation revealed the same Social Security number had
been used to obtain work at 37 other employers, mostly by illegal
immigrants trying to satisfy government requirements to get a job.
Trevino is hardly alone. MSNBC.com research and government reports
suggest hundreds of thousands of American citizens are in the same spot
— unknowingly lending their identity to illegal immigrants so they can
work. And while several government agencies and private corporations
sometimes know whose Social Security numbers are being ripped off, they
don't notify the victims — at least not until they come after them for
back taxes or unpaid loans owed by the imposter.
Raids on Tuesday by federal authorities at six meatpacking plants around
the country offered a window into this dark world. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement agents rounded up immigrants who had secured
employment by using U.S. citizen's identities at Swift & Co. plants in
Greeley, Colo., and several other locations in the Midwest. Several
hundred ID theft victims have already been identified, authorities said.
The mixture of ID theft and immigration is a thorny problem. Immigration
opponents say it's another reason to shut the borders tight; immigrant
rights groups point out that identity theft is an inevitable outcome of
unfair labor laws that push foreign visitors deeper into the shadows.
‘The numbers get passed around’
Either way, immigrant imposters with the least nefarious of intentions
-- simply a desire to work -- often unknowingly victimize the rightful
Social Security number holders. The problem is compounded by how often
ripped-off numbers are used. James Lee, chief marketing officer for
private data collection firm ChoicePoint, said the average victim of
immigrant-based identity theft sees their Social Security number shared
about 30 times.
"The numbers get passed around a family, and around neighborhoods," he
said.
MSNBC.com's Bob Sullivan discusses a list of ID theft victims the
government isn't sharing.
"People need to wake up to this problem," said Richard Hamp, an
assistant attorney general for the state of Utah who has prosecuted
several cases involving stolen IDs and illegal immigrants. "They are
destroying people's credit, Social Security benefits, and everything
else. This problem has been ignored by the federal government, and it's
enormous."
But could Trevino, and all the other victims, be warned by the
government? After all, several agencies and corporations found her when
they wanted her money. Until then, not a single one had bothered to warn
her that someone else was using her Social Security number.
Melody Millet's husband Steve was the victim of immigrant identity
theft. None of the agencies involved are trying to tackle the problem
because they all benefit from it, as does corporate America, she said.
The IRS and Social Security collect extra taxes, lenders sell more loans
and employers get inexpensive workers. Fixing the problem and telling
all the victimized consumers would upset the delicate apple cart that is
America's immigration policy, she said.
"The government is forcing people to share identities because they want
to provide cheap labor to corporate America," Melody Millet said.
An undocumented immigrant worker managed to use Steve Millet's Social
Security number for more than 10 years before the incident was
discovered. Millet said the imposter managed to obtain a dozen credit
cards, buy a car, and even a house using the stolen number and his own
name. All the while, that imposter paid taxes, paid into Social
Security, and took out loans using the stolen Social Security Number.
All of those agencies had a record of the abused SSN; none bothered to
tell Steve Millet.
$420 billion in accounting limbo
Quantifying the problem of immigrant imposters is a challenge; neither
the IRS nor the Social Security Administration has tried. But there are
some solid hints suggesting hundreds of thousands of people are
currently at risk, right now lending their identity to an undocumented
worker.
With every paycheck, U.S. workers pay FICA taxes, destined for Social
Security funds. But each year, millions of payments are made to the
agency with mismatched names and numbers. The Social Security
Administration has no idea who deserves credit for the taxes paid by
those wage earnings -- so no one gets it. The amount of uncredited
Social Security wages is now an enormous $420 billion, an amount that
sits in what's called the Earnings Suspense File, an accounting limbo.
During 2002, the year with the most recent figures available, 9 million
people paid taxes with mismatched names and Social Security Numbers.
Some were women who had failed to notify the agency that their name
changed after marriage. Some were the result of typographical errors.
But most -- between 50 and 80 percent depending on whom you talk to --
represent illegal immigrants using a stolen or manufactured Social
Security number at the workplace.
The amount of money headed for the Earnings Suspense File began to
skyrocket after 1986, when a new federal law required workers to produce
Social Security cards to get employment.
In 2001, Social Security reports indicated 35 percent of the wages in
the fund were earned by workers in California. In 2002, about 46 percent
of the wages that ended up in the fund come from immigrant-heavy
industries like agriculture, restaurants and other services, according
to Social Security's Office of Inspector General. Both facts suggest to
analysts that much of the fund is the result of payments made by
undocumented immigrant workers.
What's unclear is how many of those millions of payments made by
undocumented workers are made using someone else's Social Security
numbers. Audits show that many are made with manufactured numbers, such
as 000-00-0000. But people familiar with the data say the list would
point to hundreds of thousands of identity theft victims.
Still, James Huse Jr., former inspector general of the Social Security
Administration, said it is unlikely the agency will ever inform
potential victims.
“(The list) would be a terrific source of leads for the identity
remediation effort, but there are so many other compelling workloads in
front of (SSA) I don't know what can they do with that today," he said.
"Also, the politics of immigration get involved in this.”
A spokesman for the Social Security Administration said the agency
simply couldn't disclose the information to consumers because doing so
would run afoul of federal law.
"That information is considered to be tax return information, and it's
governed under the Internal Revenue code," said Social Security's Mark
Lassiter. "There are strict limitations on disclosure. Can someone see
if anyone else has reported earnings under their Social Security number?
The answer would be no."
The IRS also receives payments from mismatched names and numbers, and
has access to the same no-match list created by Social Security. But
according to IRS spokesman Anthony Burke, the agency doesn't check for
number-name mismatches until it processes tax returns. And it does not
have a mechanism for informing the rightful Social Security number
holder that someone else has filed a return using that number.
When tax returns are filed with wrong Social Security numbers -- some
500,000 were filed last year -- the agency simply notifies the filer in
writing. The rightful number holder isn't told, because there is no way
to know why the wrong number was used, Burke said.
Credit reports don't help
How can a consumer unravel the secret life of their Social Security
number? In fact, since neither the government nor private industry is
speaking out, there is no way. Asking the Social Security Administration
or IRS won't help.
Most consumers only discover the situation when their imposters take the
next step up the economic ladder, securing credit using the stolen
number. And even then, the victims may not be told unless the imposter
misses a loan payment or otherwise sends creditors hunting for their
money. That's because thanks to a quirk in the credit system, credit
obtained by imposters using their real name but a stolen Social Security
number doesn't appear on the victim's credit report.
This so-called "SSN-only" identity theft poses a unique set of problems
for consumers and the nation's credit bureaus. If credit is granted by a
lender, an entry is made in credit bureau files -- but not disclosed to
the consumer who properly owns that number. Even when a consumer gets a
copy of her credit report, such fraudulent accounts don't appear on the
report. Instead, the bureaus create what are sometimes called "subfiles,"
which act like separate identities in their databases.
In fact, consumer credit reports obtained from the credit bureaus
expressly leave off this kind of fraud. If an imposter is using a
consumer's Social Security number but his own name and address to open
up fraudulent accounts, a consumer-disclosed credit report won't include
that information. The rightful number holder will never know.
Lenders sometimes see theft evidence
A lender, however, might find out — even see all the accounts an
imposter has opened using a victim's Social Security number.
Millet, who has sued the credit bureaus, said her husband was denied a
credit card even though his credit report was spotless, and he had a
superb credit score of 700.
Businesses interested in giving credit to a consumer can pay to see any
activity connected to a particular Social Security Number; consumers
cannot. All three credit bureaus sell specialized services with names
like "Social Search," that track the entire history of a Social Security
number. The services are not available to consumers.
Privacy concerns prevent consumers from seeing a Social Security
number-only report, said Equifax's David Rubinger.
"Companies that have signed agreements with us can access data like
that. But we can't let every consumer see it," he said. It would be
difficult for the firm to establish definitively who the rightful Social
Security number holder is, he said. And there would still be potentially
sticky privacy issues related to revealing the imposter's information.
Don Girard, a spokesman for Experian, acknowledged his firm had seen the
problem, but said it was extremely rare.
"I can tell you we have quite a few people looking into this," he said.
Trans Union did not respond to requests for interview for this report.
Step 1: Protect your finances
Contact the fraud departments of each of the three major credit bureaus.
Get a copy of your credit report, which is free to ID theft victims. Ask
that your file be flagged with a "fraud alert tag" and a "victim's
statement." That will limit the thief's ability to open new credit
accounts, as new creditors will call you before granting credit,
generally. Insist, in writing, that the fraud alert remain in place for
seven years, the maximum, according to PrivacyRights.org.
Credit bureaus
Equifax
1-800-525-6285
www.equifax.com
Experian
1-888-397-3742
www.experian.com
TransUnion
1-800-680-7289
www.tuc.com
'Total purgatory' for taxpayers
Frustration can mount for victims of this kind of fraud. Eventually, the
government agencies involved do catch up with the legitimate consumers;
but often, not until they are looking for money. Victims can have
trouble getting disability or unemployment benefits, Utah's Hamp said.
Others find the Internal Revenue Service on their backs, looking for
payment of back taxes for wages earned by their imposters. Some see
refunds held up by the confusion; others see their wages garnished.
Trevino found herself in a financial nightmare. All those imitators made
a mess out of her work history, her Social Security benefits records and
her credit report. She was haunted by bills and creditors. She received
threatening letters from the IRS, asking her to pay taxes on money
earned by her imposters. She was told to re-pay unemployment benefits
she had received, after the government discovered she was "working"
while drawing benefits.
"At the time I'm thinking, 'I'm unemployed. I wish I could have at least
one job, let alone all these different jobs,’" she said.
"This is total purgatory that this puts U.S. citizen taxpayers into,"
said Marti Dinerstein, president of Immigration Matters, a public-policy
analysis firm in New York. "It's a nightmare to get it stopped. And when
they do get it stopped, it is only for that particular year. The whole
mess could begin anew next tax season."
But neither the Social Security Administration nor the IRS tells
consumers that something unusual is happening with their Social Security
numbers. It seems consumers are the last ones in on the joke.
“This is the schizophrenia of the federal government," Huse, the former
Social Security inspector general said. "The Homeland Security people
are screaming about the accuracy of records, and you have the IRS taking
money from wherever it comes."
Mismatches go unchecked
Since the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, workers must
produce a Social Security card or similar identity verification when
obtaining employment. Employers are supposed to verify that the card is
legitimate, but many don't.
By creating a black market for counterfeit Social Security cards, the
law may have inadvertently kicked off the identity theft crisis, experts
say.
"It's truly an unintended consequences of the 1986 immigration law,"
said Marilanne Hincapie of the National Immigration Law Center. "That’s
why there is this need for comprehensive immigration reform."
For now, with the tacit approval from all involved, undocumented workers
buy counterfeit cards from suppliers who steal or simply manufacture
Social Security numbers.
About 90 percent of the time in cases he's investigated, Utah's Hamp
said, the numbers used belong to a real person. But even in the other
cases, there's still harm done: the number may be issued in the future,
meaning a baby may be born with a surprising financial past.
"You could end up at birth with a bad credit history and a work record,"
Hamp said.
The Social Security Administration has made some efforts to straighten
out its records, sending letters to hundreds of thousands of businesses,
asking that they follow-up on name/number mismatches.
In 2002, the agency sent 900,000 letters to companies that had workers
using erroneous names or numbers. The letters confused employers and
employees alike: some workers fled immediately, other employers fired
workers on the spot.
Immigration rights groups objected, pointing out that inclusion in a
no-match list was not an automatic indicator of illegal status. The
effort did little to reduce the Earnings Suspense File or fix Social
Security accounting, so the agency backed off.
Meanwhile, the IRS, which is charged with enforcing the requirement that
employers collect accurate Social Security number data, has never once
levied a fine against a corporation for failing to do so.
Change tied up with key policy shifts
The issue of Social Security number abuse is getting some attention as
the Bush administration presses ahead on two related issues: Social
Security reform and undocumented worker legalization.
The single best way to reduce the amount of entries into the Earnings
Suspense File -- and remove the need for immigrant identity theft --
would be to provide a path to legal status for undocumented workers.
On the other hand, removing items from that file would actually increase
future liabilities for Social Security, since more wage earners would
have a claim on future Social Security payments, adding a bit of fuel
for those who warn about Social Security deficits looming in the future.
More stories by Bob Sullivan
• Online background checks can mislead
• Who's buying cell records online? Cops
• Few takers for free credit monitoring
• Are people warming to outsourced privacy?
• Military thumb drives expose larger problem
• Hidden cost of illegal immigration: ID theft
• How private are your tax records? Surprise!
• The real threat to the Internet
• How can someone in Moscow take your money?
• ATM theft investigators eye software flaw
• Even torn-up credit card applications aren't safe
• PINs no obstacle for debit card thieves
As things stand, payments made by workers that land in the Earnings
Suspense File -- for 2002, Social Security taxes paid on wages of $56
billion -- represent essentially free money to the system, since they
come with no future payout liabilities.
In the meantime, neither the Social Security Administration nor the IRS
has any public plans to attempt to notify consumers who might be sharing
their identity with an undocumented worker -- or 30.
Telling the number's rightful holder that someone else is using it might
create more panic then necessary, some Social Security investigators
said -- and there's not a lot of good advice the agency could offer,
anyway. There's little a victim could do at that point. Uncovering just
who is the rightful owner of the Social Security number -- and who is
the imposter -- could also pose a challenge. So would finding correct
contact information for victims.
Betsy Broder, the attorney in charge of the Federal Trade Commission's
efforts to combat identity theft, said more government coordination is
surely needed, but she sympathized with the challenge facing the IRS and
SSA.
"Of course consumers are always better off if they know how their
information is being misused. But having said that, it's really complex
with federal agencies," she said. "There are restrictions under the
Privacy Act. You can't release to one person another person's
information. And the agencies are often not in a position to know with
any certainty who was the right person and who was the imposter, leading
to possible problems with unauthorized disclosure of information."
The credit bureaus cite much the same concerns, indicating they simply
couldn't sell Social Security number-search tools to any consumer who
wants them. Even data aggregators like ChoicePoint don't sell such a
product to consumers.
Millet thinks there's another motivation for agencies to not deal with
the problem. Everyone except the consumer is profiting from the
situation, she said. Notifying every consumer whose number is being
misused by someone else would be disruptive to the American workforce,
and would force government agencies to face the sticky undocumented
worker problem.
"If there was no issue, the government would issue work visas to all of
them," she said. "But if we gave them all their own Social Security
numbers, they'd be able to compete for real wages. That's why no one is
dealing with this."
Bob Sullivan is author of Your Evil Twin: Behind the Identity Theft
Epidemic.
I'm resolving a few problems with my mailing list. In the
meantime you MUST watch the following 14 minute video by clicking below.
This is a presentation by Roy Beck, from Numbers USA. You will be
amazed as he explains the devastation that will occur if we allow our
Congress to pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform after this November's
election. A better name for this program would be CRAP: The
Comprehensive Reform and Amnesty Program. First I need to get you
pissed off. Then we need to act in concert to make sure these
scumbags do not get away with this.
Population by the Numbers by Roy Beck
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4094926727128068265&q=roy+beck&hl=en
Please send a link to this site,
www.newagecitizen.com, so as
many of your friends as possible can view this video. It is time
for Americans to wake up to the greatest betrayal in American history.
The time to act is now. I will make sure that this video is
available for their educational viewing.
Upcoming Lectures and
Demonstrations
The Editor of New Age Citizen, is
considering giving a series of lectures that challenge the current
"Demopublican" plutocracy with policy alternatives that are more to the
interests of the American working class. The first lecture in the
series will most likely address the current Immigration Reform measures
that are being debated both in Congress and on the streets of America.
Lecture #001: No More Immigration: Legal or Illegal
This lecture will address the virtual propaganda surrounding the
current immigration debate. It will expose the larger agenda that
is intent on destroying the middle class by attempting to merge the
United States into a "North American Union" consisting of Mexico, Canada
and the United States. The primary argument against immigration focuses
on the inability of the United States to provide adequate sustainable
resources for the 200 million additional immigrants that will exceed the
carrying capacity of this great country by 2050. The lecture will
conclude that the best interests of legal American citizens will be
served by implementing mandatory employer Social Security checks;
punishing employers with extreme prejudice and putting an end to all
Legal/Illegal immigration until the real wages of Americans is at or
beyond what they were at their apex in 1973. If you live in SE
Michigan and are interesting in attending one of these activist lectures
please send an email to get on our lecture list.
newagecitizenx@comcast.net
In addition to these lectures I am considering staging a
demonstration against further immigration and Bush's agenda to destroy
the American working class. More on that in the near future.
Lastly, if you know of any Anti-Immigrant Demonstrations, anywhere in
the US, let me know. I will begin to post these on the website.
"New Agenda for America"
"New Agenda for America" will
become a slogan for referring to the set of policy positions that NAC
will be promoting in the coming years. It refers to a disturbing
trend whereby our elected representatives appear to be increasingly at
odds with the values of the founding fathers of this country (e.g.,
Washington, Franklin, Jefferson) and the American people.
To get this off the ground I
am creating a frames based page which will allow my visitors to both
understand the rational behind New Age Citizen as well as the
preliminary agenda for "New Agenda for America." I will place a link to
this at the top right hand corner of the homepage for now. You can
take a quick look by clicking below:
New Agenda for America
I'm interested to here your
initial feedback on this new addition to the website.
Also, please read this article if you have not already done so. Very
illuminating stuff.
http://www.newagecitizen.com/PDF/braindrain.pdf
Please support our efforts to allow a form of Marijuana
Re-Legalization where personal cultivation is neither taxed or regulated
by any government agencies. For more information please read the
following articles regarding the Marijuana Re-Legalization Policy (MRP)
Project:
Editorial
Overview
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Editor of New Age Patriot Magazine(1989 - 1997)
Webmaster for New Age Citizen (2000 - End of the Drug War)
