What Should The Sentence Be?

On Wednesday, The New York Post posted an article about a man arrested for identity theft. Based on the information provided in the article, this should be a fairly simply case, but the case illustrates some of the flaws in our justice system.

The article is about Ricardo Cesar Guedes, 49, a Brazilian man who worked as a flight attendant for United Airlines for two decades. The problem is that Mr. Guedes worked under the name of William Ericson Ladd — an Atlanta boy who died in a Washington state car crash in 1979. Mr. Guedes stole the identity to avoid the paperwork and hassle involved in becoming an American citizen.

The article reports:

Ricardo Cesar Guedes, 49, is accused of stealing the identity of William Ericson Ladd — an Atlanta boy who died in a Washington state car crash in 1979 — to apply for a US passport in 1998 and renew it six times through 2020, according to a federal complaint.

Guedes, a native of Sao Paulo, then used the dead boy’s name while getting married and taking out a mortgage in Houston, according to the complaint, which lists his occupation as a flight attendant for United Airlines.

There is no record of him applying or receiving US citizenship through naturalization, according to the complaint.

…Ladd’s mother, Debra Lynn Hays, confirmed her son died to State Department investigators last July, according to the complaint charging Guedes with aggravated identity theft, making false statements on a passport application and other counts.

It is quite likely that Mr. Guedes will spend some time in prison, but let’s back up a minute and look at the larger picture. Had Mr. Guedes come into the country illegally through the southern border and simply stolen someone’s social security number, would there be charges? Does that fact that he acted responsibly for two decades while posing as a citizen count in his favor?

One Consequence Of Illegal Immigration

Yesterday Breitbart posted an article about one aspect of illegal immigration–identity theft.

The article reports:

During an interview with SiriusXM Patriot’s Breitbart News Tonight, executive director of the Immigration Reform Law Insitute (IRLI) Dale Wilcox revealed to Breitbart News Senior Editor-at-Large Rebecca Mansour that their latest investigation revealed 39 million cases between 2012 and 2016 where names on W-2 tax forms did not match corresponding Social Security records.

If each fraudulent Social Security Number user submitted only one W-2 form a year under a fake identity, this still amounts to nearly ten million individuals using stolen identities of American citizens. There are more than 12 million illegal aliens currently living in the United States.

Wilcox said American children are the most vulnerable to illegal aliens stealing their identities and using their Social Security Numbers to work in the country.

“Studies have found that it affects children the most because see illegal aliens prefer to use children’s’ Social Security Numbers because your child … won’t apply for a loan for years, so the illegal aliens probably won’t be caught for decades possibly,” Wilcox said.

“A lot of Americans are being harmed by this. These poor kids, when they go to get their first school loan or car loan, they’ve got criminal histories … and bad credit,” Wilcox said. “This is not a victimless crime.”

I know someone whose social security number was used by an illegal alien. The theft of the number was discovered when the person went to file his income taxes. Thankfully the Internal Revenue Service realized what was going on and solved the problem by issuing the person a special PIN number that they now have to use when they file their taxes. This prevents their taxes from being mixed up with any taxes filed by the person who stole their social security number. This is something that would not happen if we were to gain control of our borders and institute a reasonable immigration policy that would be fair to both Americans and people who want to come to America.

The problem with passing immigration reform is that big business pays off the Republicans in Congress and Democrats believe they can persuade the illegal immigrants to vote for Democrats as soon as they are citizens (and unfortunately before they are citizens in some cases). If either party wanted to solve the illegal immigration problem, it would have been solved by now. Democrats had the White House, the House and the Senate for two years under President Obama, and Republicans currently have the White House, the House and the Senate. Although there are some Republicans who would support immigration reform if given the chance, they are outnumbered by those receiving large campaign contributions from corporate interests who want cheap labor. The only way we will have secured borders and sane immigration policies is to vote out those politicians in both parties who are blocking any legislation on the matter.

Only Monitoring The Lawbreakers–Not Arresting Them

CNS News posted an article on Friday about identity theft in America.

The article reports:

The Internal Revenue Service in 2011 through 2016 documented more than 1.3 million cases of identity theft perpetrated by illegal aliens whom the IRS had given Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN), which are only given to people who are ineligible to work in the United States or receive Social Security Numbers, according to information published by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).

However, in response to inquiries from CNSNews.com, the IRS could not say if it had referred even one of these cases for criminal prosecution.

Imagine how you would feel if you were one of the people whose identity had been stolen–would you want the person prosecuted?

The article reminds us that using a fake or stolen Social Security is a felony.

The article includes a picture of the types of identity theft involved:

The article further reports:

A January 2004 TIGTA report said: “The IRS Office of Chief Counsel determined that, ‘the group of persons with United States federal tax obligations who are not eligible to obtain an SSN is limited to non-citizens who either do not reside in the United States or reside here illegally.”

In 1999, TIGTA released a report warning that with its ITIN program the IRS had embraced a policy to “‘legalize’ illegal aliens” that “increases the potential for fraud.”

In a follow-up report in 2004, TIGTA concluded that ITIN holders who filed tax returns using a Social Security Number were in fact illegal aliens.

“Our conclusion is that, generally, the individuals who file a United States (U.S.) Individual Income Tax Return (Form 1040) with an ITIN as the identification number and receive wages that are identified with a Social Security Number (SSN) on the attached Wage and Tax Statements (Form W-2) are unauthorized resident aliens,” said TIGTA.

Then-Deputy IRS Commissioner Mark Matthews responded to this TIGTA report by conceding that ITIN holders who filed tax returns reporting wages earned in the United States were likely to be illegal aliens and that if they used a SSN it was “stolen or fabricated.”

“The Service has concluded that most resident aliens who hold ITINs and who report and pay tax from wage income are not legally employed in the United States,” he told TIGTA in a memo. “This is because such a taxpayer would have a valid SSN if the holder were legally employed in the United States, making procurement of an ITIN unnecessary and duplicative.”

The article explains the process for dealing with identity theft:

When it notifies victims of employment identity theft, the IRS does not tell the victim the name of the person who stole their identity. The notification form it used in its pilot program told the victim: “Federal law prevents us from providing specific details regarding the identity of the individual who used your SSN for employment purposes.”

However, the IRS can refer identity theft cases to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution.

So, how many of the 1,346,485 cases of employment-related identity theft the IRS documented in 2011 through 2016 did it refer to DOJ? How many of the 1,227,579 cases in 2017 where an ITIN holder used an SSN that was fabricated or had not been issued to them did the IRS refer to DOJ?

The IRS’s Criminal Investigation division publishes an annual report stating how many “prosecution recommendations” it makes each fiscal year and the crimes for which it makes them. In the six fiscal years from 2011 through 2016, according to these reports, IRS CI made 20,986 prosecution recommendations and 4,329 of them were for identity theft cases.

If everyone one of these identity theft prosecution recommendations had been for a case of employment identity theft—rather than refund-fraud identity theft—that would have equaled 0.3 percent of the 1,346,485 ITIN-holder cases the IRS documented in those years.

It seems to me that we should prosecute these cases and send those committing the crimes back to their home countries. It sounds as if our government is not at all interested in protecting Americans from identity theft.

If You Notice Extra Income On Your Tax Forms…

The Washington Times posted a story yesterday about the problem of illegal aliens using social security numbers stolen from American citizens. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration released its report Thursday stating that in 2015 there were potentially 1.4 million people likely affected by the the theft of their social security numbers.

Part of the problem lies within the government bureaucracy. The article reports:

The IRS knows of 2.4 million people a year who file taxes using an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, which is generally given out to immigrants who aren’t authorized to work. But the IRS is not allowed to talk with Homeland Security to help agents identify who and where those taxpayers are.

The migrants file their forms with their ITINs, but the W-2 forms they submit show valid Social Security numbers that they fraudulently gave to their employer to clear an initial work authorization check.

A staggering 87 percent of forms filed online using ITINs showed income credited to a Social Security number. More than half of forms filed by paper also showed that same fraudulent behavior.

The IRS tries to mark the files of the fraud victims when electronic filings are used. But the tax agency misses about half of the victims, the inspector general said.

For paper forms, the IRS did even worse, the audit found.

The tax agency, in its official reply to the report, insisted it takes identity theft “very seriously.”

Kenneth C. Corbin, commissioner of the IRS’s wage and investment division, said it has just completed a pilot program to figure out how to notify taxpayers they’re the victims of fraud.

The inspector general submitted recommendations with his report, by the IRS says its resources are too small to implement all of those recommendations. If you will excuse a personal gripe here, the IRS had enough resources to audit me the year I made a donation to the Tea Party. Nothing on our taxes had changed, and it was the first time my husband and I had been audited in 40+ years. I think the resources to solve the problem of stolen social security numbers could be found if the desire were there.

At Least Some Of The Internal Revenue Service Is Being Held Accountable

The Washington Examiner is reporting today that three IRS workers are facing prison time for defrauding the government. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration detailed the charges today.

The article reports:

Paul G. Hurley, who worked in Seattle, was found guilty of taking bribes from a part owner of a chain of recreational marijuana shops.

“Hurley seemed sympathetic to the taxpayer regarding the [Internal Revenue Code’s] prohibition against deductions and credits for businesses in the marijuana industry and talked about being unhappy at the IRS,” the watchdog said.

Hurley bragged about saving the business owner $1 million, and said he was living “paycheck to paycheck.”

“Initially, Hurley wanted the taxpayer to pay off his student loans in small amounts over time, but when the taxpayer declined, Hurley said he wanted cash,” the watchdog said. “Hurley and the taxpayer scheduled a time to meet several days later. Hurley told the taxpayer not to tell anyone, not even his business partner.”

Hurley took a $5,000 payment, and then a $15,000 payment from the business owner. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison, plus three years of probation.

Creshika Wise pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft back in May.

Wise was an IRS revenue agent in Atlanta, and developed a scheme to ensure that all or part of a $758,846 payment due to the IRS would go to herself.

Kimberley Brown-English was found guilty of six counts of preparing and filing false tax returns.

She was an IRS worker based in California, and in 2011 and 2012, she filed income tax returns “in which she falsely claimed two dependents, a parent and a nephew.”

“Neither of the individuals claimed as dependents had a familial relationship with Brown-English,” TIGTA said.

The IRS is one of the most powerful federal agencies in the country. They have amassed too much power and have become politicized. It is truly time for them to go.

Opening The Door Wide For Identity Theft

Identity theft is a problem in the electronic age. Credit cards with chips can be stolen without anyone actually going near the actual card. The internet is a gold mine for identity thieves. Now the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is going to make it really easy to have your identity stolen.

Freedomworks posted an article yesterday about a new rule the IRS is proposing on charitable donations.

The article reports:

A new rule is proposing that non-profit organizations collect the “tax identification numbers” of all their donors who give over $250. For you and me, that means our Social Security numbers.

It’s hard to imagine a more chilling regulation on charitable giving. Would you be willing to enter your Social Security number into an internet donation form, knowing that the government will get to see it? Would you be willing to write that number down and mail it through the U.S. Post Office alongside a check? I wouldn’t.

The article continues:

This is part of the IRS’a continued efforts to reduce the reach and effectiveness of non-profit organizations. Many of you will remember the proposed regulations from last year that would have narrowly defined “social welfare” to shut down conservative organizations critical of the IRS. Through a massive grassroots activism campaign, FreedomWorks, along with other organizations, was able to stop the regulation by driving a record number of comments – over 150,000 – to defeat the rule. This new regulation is a resurrection of the same idea – identify and deter voters to causes the government doesn’t approve of.

In addition to the compliance cost of organizations having to keep track of all these numbers, the potential for civil liberties violations is huge. The Constitution guarantees us the freedom of association, but that freedom is compromised when the we know the government is watching us, especially when the watching is being done by an organization capable of inflicting punishment in the form of fines, audits, asset forfeiture, and general harassment.

We saw that harassment when a business was boycotted because they gave money to support Proposition 8 in California. If this information is required, we can expect to see donors to conservative causes targeted. We have already seen thegovernment harass businessmen who contributed to conservative causes using audits and safety inspections.

The comment period on this new rule is open until December 16. Please comment and let the IRS know that they have no right to demand your Social Security number for charitable contributions.

The Obama Administration Has Forgotten Its Responsibility To Enforce The Law

Yesterday The Daily Caller posted an article about a lawsuit in Arizona. The lawsuit

The article reports:

A career attorney with top ratings at Immigration and Customs Enforcement says that she faced retaliation from superiors for refusing to drop cases pending against illegal aliens guilty of DUI, identity theft and other crimes.

Patricia Vroom, 59, made the claims in a lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court of Appeals in Arizona against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.

Many of the cases involved were identify theft and other low-level crimes. Ms. Vroom was “instructed to look favorably for prosecutorial discretion on immigration removal cases involving the lowest level of felony convictions for identity theft under Arizona law.”

Think about this for a minute. These are felony convictions. The idea here is to allow convicted felons to stay in America illegally. Don’t we have enough convicted felons that are here legally?

The article further reports:

Vroom also claims that on Nov. 5, 2013, Downer emailed her concerning the case of an individual who was found ineligible for relief under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which was started by President Obama, because of an ID theft conviction.

Unknown to Vroom at the time, top ICE and DHS officials had discussed that individual case on a conference call in August 2013.

An angry Downer emailed Vroom on Nov. 5, 2013, demanding to know why she had been unable to convince her field office director to cancel the “notice to appear” order for the alien.

Our immigration laws are currently not being enforced. They do need to be revised and brought up to date, but we do not need amnesty–we need common sense. I strongly suggest that rather than having an overactive President and a lame-duck Congress rewrite our immigration laws, we let the new Congress write them–after discussion and deliberation. Hopefully our new Congress will have some respect for the concept of making sure laws are enforced and will have some respect for the wishes of the American people.

Are They Following Any Rules?

Today’s Daily Caller is reporting that because they did not follow their own rules and policies, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has put American taxpayers at risk of fraud and identity theft.

The article reports:

If one needs further evidence that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has veered out of control, look no further than last week’s Treasury Inspector General’s report that found serial failures on the part of the agency to conduct basic background checks on contractors used to handle sensitive taxpayer information. In just one instance, a computer disk with 1.4 million American names, addresses and even Social Security numbers was handled by contractors without background checks, putting taxpayers at unnecessary risk for fraud and identity theft.

What makes this even more outlandish is that this is not just a breach of common sense; it is a violation of IRS policy.

It seems that the IRS is lax about following their own regulations in a number of areas.

The article further reports:

Furthermore, other investigations have brought to light accounts of money wasted by the IRS on lavish agency conferences while the rest of the country struggled in a deep financial recession. Spoof training videos were produced by the IRS while other government agencies were furloughing employees. And to top it off, from 2011-2012 alone, more than $1 million in bonuses were paid to IRS employees who were delinquent on their own federal taxes!

…The IRS is out of control, and if Commissioner Koskinen wants to return some faith to the agency he leads, he can start by holding his people responsible for the IRS’s outrageous behavior.

Will the Obama Administration hold the IRS accountable for its behavior? If not, it is time to consider an alternate tax policy that would abolish the IRS.

An Invitation To Disaster

Yesterday The Blaze reported a rather serious problem with the implementation of ObamaCare in California. California is moving ahead with its healthcare exchanges and making a valiant effort to make sure that everyone in the state has health insurance. However, they have run into a bit of a snag.

The article reports:

The exchange, known as Covered California, recently adopted rules for a network of more than 21,000 “enrollment counselors” who will provide consumers with in-person assistance. In some cases, they will have access to personal and financial information, from ID cards to medical histories.

But the state insurance commissioner and anti-fraud groups say the exchange is falling far short of ensuring that the people hired as counselors are adequately screened and monitored.

The unemployment rate in California is currently 9 percent. Many of the unemployed in California are highly skilled, ethical people who were employed in the various industries that have left the state due to the high cost of doing business there. There are obviously enough quality people available for these jobs, it seems to me that basic screening of the people who want to be “enrollment counselors” would not be that difficult.

The article notes the potential for disaster:

Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, a Democrat, also said the exchange does not have a plan for investigating any complaints that might arise once the counselors start work. That means consumers who might fall prey to bogus health care products, identity theft and other abuses will have a hard time seeking justice if unscrupulous counselors get ahold of their Social Security number, bank accounts, health records or other private information, he said.

Generally speaking, a private company takes the time to do some basic research on a potential employee because their ‘bottom line’ is at stake. One of the problems of a government-run organization is that there is no incentive for profit and also no incentive to ‘protect the brand.’

The article reports:

Covered California spokesman Santiago Lucero said the exchange shares Jones’ concerns and has made consumer safety a priority. The exchange’s board adopted regulations last month requiring enrollment counselors to wear name badges, undergo background checks, and get fingerprinted.

But the exchange’s current rules do not specify what offenses would disqualify an applicant for a counseling position.

The potholes on the path to ObamaCare are big enough to swallow a full-size car.

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