jackbenimble
02-07-2005, 08:41 AM
<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr class="standard"><td>Quote </td></tr><tr class="standard"><td class="QUOTE"> Migrants help make Valley No. 1 for ID theft (http://www.eastvalleytribun e.com/index.php?sty=35941)
Problems with identity theft have left a Mesa plumber’s life in shambles, and he can no longer pay his home mortgage and credit card bills on time.
He is about to lose his home. His wife and four kids face an uncertain future.
Some would call Andres Vazquez a victim.
But Vazquez is, in fact, the thief — one of thousands of illegal immigrants who contribute to Arizona’s high identity theft rates.
In most identity theft cases, a drug abuser uses personal data to steal money from a victim’s bank or credit card account.
However, local police said that up to 20 percent of cases involve immigrants who take information for a less malevolent purpose — to get a job and settle into an average American lifestyle.
Whatever the intent, the crime of "taking the identity of another" in Arizona is a felony that merits probation or jail time. Vazquez, 34, has been in jail since August, unable to bail out because immigration officials intend to deport him. He was convicted last week and will be sentenced in March for using the Social Security number of a New York woman. A former resident of Nogales, Mexico, Vazquez has lived and worked in the United States for a decade.
Vazquez told Mesa police he made up the Social Security number when he first arrived and has been using it ever since. The number has allowed him to work, buy a home, obtain utility services and open credit card accounts.
[/QUOTE]
Identity theft has come up in a couple of other threads lately so I thought I would post this article.
The author is obviously sympathetic to the illegals. His perverse reasoning is that since we did not enforce our immigration laws and he was able to come and stay, he should also not enforce our identify theft laws by punishing this guy and that in fact we should give him a social security number so he would not need to committ this second crime and so it would be easier for him to committ the first crimes. Sheesh!
Regards,
Jack
Problems with identity theft have left a Mesa plumber’s life in shambles, and he can no longer pay his home mortgage and credit card bills on time.
He is about to lose his home. His wife and four kids face an uncertain future.
Some would call Andres Vazquez a victim.
But Vazquez is, in fact, the thief — one of thousands of illegal immigrants who contribute to Arizona’s high identity theft rates.
In most identity theft cases, a drug abuser uses personal data to steal money from a victim’s bank or credit card account.
However, local police said that up to 20 percent of cases involve immigrants who take information for a less malevolent purpose — to get a job and settle into an average American lifestyle.
Whatever the intent, the crime of "taking the identity of another" in Arizona is a felony that merits probation or jail time. Vazquez, 34, has been in jail since August, unable to bail out because immigration officials intend to deport him. He was convicted last week and will be sentenced in March for using the Social Security number of a New York woman. A former resident of Nogales, Mexico, Vazquez has lived and worked in the United States for a decade.
Vazquez told Mesa police he made up the Social Security number when he first arrived and has been using it ever since. The number has allowed him to work, buy a home, obtain utility services and open credit card accounts.
[/QUOTE]
Identity theft has come up in a couple of other threads lately so I thought I would post this article.
The author is obviously sympathetic to the illegals. His perverse reasoning is that since we did not enforce our immigration laws and he was able to come and stay, he should also not enforce our identify theft laws by punishing this guy and that in fact we should give him a social security number so he would not need to committ this second crime and so it would be easier for him to committ the first crimes. Sheesh!
Regards,
Jack