re: "On Jose Antonio Vargas"

Daniel Foster at The Corner ("a web-leading source of real-time conservative opinion") tells the tale of an illegal alien.


Money quote(s):


"Vargas was sent to California by his Filipino mother at age twelve. He was raised there by his (naturalized) grandparents, and did not discover he was in the country illegally until he brought his green card to the DMV at age 16 and was told it was a forgery."

Minor children are victims (at worst) or merely passengers (at best) when it comes to illegal immigration. And under current law no legal penalty (aside from deportation) attaches to them thereby. But read on.


"Vargas entered the country illegally after his grandfather paid a coyote $4,500 to smuggle him in. The grandfather then obtained a fake passport and green card for Vargas, which they used to acquire a valid Social Security card. But that card, which subjected Vargas’ right to work to the approval of the then-INS, was illegally doctored, allowing Vargas to secure job after job for more than a decade by showing nothing more than a photocopy of a fake document."

Grandpa ought to be getting a visit from various federal agencies regarding his multiple crimes in this matter.


"(A) fear- and shame-driven Vargas, with the aid of his family, perpetuated and compounded those crimes (Vargas eventually got around to what you might redundantly call fraudulent tax fraud, repeatedly reporting himself as a citizen rather than a “permanent resident”, when in fact he was neither), elicits from me nothing like the outpouring of support Vargas is already enjoying on the Left.


Punishing a minor by removing him from the culture he’s adopted as his own, for the crimes of his parents, does strike me as fundamentally unfair. But what liberals leave out of this story, time and again, is a competing — and in my view overriding — unfairness. Reihan has argued repeatedly, and effectively, that we should treat access to the U.S. economy, not to mention its extensive welfare state, as a scarce resource. We can debate and debate the best way of distributing this resource– from “not at all” to “come one, come all” and everywhere in between. But distributing it based on who manages most successfully to violate the law, at the expense of would-be immigrants who are honoring the process, is surely not a valid option."

Fear and shame notwithstanding, Mr. Vargas had a choice upon reaching age 18. Actually, he had a six month window at that point where, even though he was accuring unlawful presence in the U.S. for which he, having reached age 18, was now legally responsible, it wasn't until he had reached six months of unlawful presence that he'd even incurred a visa ineligibility!

You understand that correctly: he could have flown back to Manila, turned around and legally submitted an application for a U.S. visa, and there would have been no automatic visa ineligibility for all the years of living illegally in the U.S. right up until he was 18 years and six months of age.

WIVB - New birth certificate policy. New law takes effect July 1.

From my archive of press clippings:

WIVB

New birth certificate policy


New law takes effect July 1


Updated: Wednesday, 17 Feb 2010, 7:50 PM EST

Published : Wednesday, 17 Feb 2010, 5:27 PM EST


There are some major changes coming for identity measures if your were born in Puerto Rico.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Your birth certificate will become void as of July 1st - part of a new law designed to reduce identity theft and passport fraud.

The U.S. State Department reports that 40 percent of the 8,000 cases of identity theft and passport fraud in the United States is related to stolen Puerto Rican birth certificates."

&

"According to U.S. Customs and Immigration, a Puerto Rican birth certificate runs for about $5,000 to $10,000 on the black market.

Puerto Ricans born on the island receive an American Social Security number and are eligible for a United States passport from birth. The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Department of Health will issue new birth certificates to people upon request. There will be a $5 charge."

_____
For more information, call (787) 767-9120 ext. 2402 or visit their Web site.

CW - Trust but verify!

From my archive of press clippings:

ComputerWorld


Trust but verify!

June 24, 2009 - 9:12 P.M.


For those of you who don't know, I've spent many years in the actuarial consulting and retirement planning business. One of the biggest problems faced by many of my clients is the hiring of illegal aliens. Some of these workers spend many years with a company and accumulate substantial retirement benefits only to "disappear" without a trace. Some employers I’ve talk to about this think the employees don’t even care about the retirement benefits accumulated; they’re content to just draw a weekly salary. The accumulated benefits remain in the plan until such time as the person is located or the plan itself is terminated with "lost" benefits then being turned over to the feds. Believe it or not, there are millions of dollars in such benefits just waiting to be paid out. Simply requesting a Social Security number isn’t a solution either; it’s relatively easy for a motivated individual to use a bogus number.

Read the whole article here.

WP - Researchers: Social Security Numbers Can Be Guessed

From my archive of press clippings:

Washington Post


Researchers: Social Security Numbers Can Be Guessed

By Brian Krebs

Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, July 6, 2009; 6:05 PM


Researchers have found that it is possible to guess many -- if not all -- of the nine digits in an individual's Social Security number using publicly available information, a finding they say compromises the security of one of the most widely used consumer identifiers in the United States.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"The results come as concern grows over identity theft and lawmakers in Washington push legislation that would bar businesses from requiring people to supply their Social Security number when purchasing a good or service."

"A Social Security Administration spokesman said the government has long cautioned the private sector against using a Social Security number as a personal identifier, even as it insists "there is no fool proof method for predicting a person's Social Security Number.""

&

"Introduced in the 1930s as a way to track individuals for taxation purposes, Social Security numbers were never designed to be used for authentication. Over time, however, private and public institutions began keeping tabs on consumers using the numbers, requiring people to present them as proof of identity, such as when applying for loans, new employment, or health insurance."

SM - GAO Obtains Passport with Social Security Number of Man Who Died in 1965

From my archive of press clippings:

Security Management

GAO Obtains Passport with Social Security Number of Man Who Died in 1965


By Matthew Harwood

04/14/2009 -

An undercover investigator was able to use counterfeit documents and the Social Security number (SSN) of a man who died in 1965 to obtain a U.S. passport, according to a letter from the Government Accountability Office (GAO)to Senators Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Diane Feinstein (D-CA).

Read the whole article here.

ABC - Illegal Immigration: Can Online Database Help?

ABC.Com

Illegal Immigration: Can Online Database Help?

E-Verify, System for Screening Illegal Workers, Gets White House Boost

By NED POTTER


May 7, 2009

There is a stereotype of illegal immigrants, stealing across the border into the United States, hoping for jobs -- and getting hired by unscrupulous employers looking for cheap labor.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"(T)he Obama administration is reportedly asking for $112 million in its new budget -- a 12 percent increase -- for E-Verify, a massive computer database that employers can use to make sure the people they hire have the legal right to take the job."

&

"E-Verify, currently run by the Department of Homeland Security, is used by about 120,000 employers around the country. The system is voluntary, and there is no charge for companies to log on and check out job applicants.

If a worker tries to get a job, an employer can go online, enter the person's name, Social Security number and other data, and find out whether the applicant is in the U.S. legally. The government says 2 million checks were run in 2006, the last year for which complete numbers are available, and preliminary answers come back in 3 to 5 seconds."

S&S - Military IDs to list only last four digits of SSNs

From my archive of press clippings:

Stars and Stripes

Military IDs to list only last four digits of SSNs

By Charlie Reed, Stars and Stripes

European edition, Sunday, May 18, 2008

Protect your identity and credit information

Place an "active-duty alert" on your credit before deploying by contacting at least one of the three major credit reporting companies — Equifax, Experion and TranUnion. One company will contact the rest. The alert requires creditors to verify servicemembers’ identities before issuing lines of credit in their names. It also removes their names from the nationwide consumer reporting companies’ marketing lists for prescreened credit and insurance offers for two years. Get a copy of your credit report annually to check for any irregularities. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires the three companies provide the information for free at least once a year. If you discover anything out of the ordinary, contact the companies and report the incident to base police and the Federal Trade Commission.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"When Social Security numbers were essentially worthless, they used to be stitched and spray-painted on troops’ duffel bags.

Now that identity thieves can parlay the numbers into thousands of dollars or more, the Department of Defense is trying to make them invisible. And not just to the naked eye.

The DOD recently announced it will begin truncating Social Security numbers on military identification cards in December. Only the last four digits of the number will appear on the card.

Along with limiting their visibility, military agencies are also moving toward using the shortened versions when sharing records."