Thursday, December 14, 2006

Substantial Identity Theft?

Authorities are saying the immigration raids done on Tuesday uncovered substantial identity theft.

During the raids investigators found evidence of "substantial" identity theft involving a crime ring that produced fake documents including birth certificates and Social Security numbers, Homeland Security officials said. More than 1,000 agents took part in the raids.
ICE Spokesperson Gail Montenegro said...
Identity theft affects millions of Americans and ICE has a responsibility to enforce the nation’s immigration laws and protect law abiding citizens who are the victims of identity theft.
If that is the case, then why were only 2 people arrested in Marshalltown on ID theft and 65 in all 6 locations? It seems to me that ID theft was used to sell these raids to the public. If you look at the real costs to families and communities just weeks before Christmas most Americans would question the practices. If you actually lived in one of these communities you would never say the real victims of these raids are those of identity theft

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for speaking out on this- I have been trying to make these very points with those I know that this was a deportation raid sold as "breaking up an indentity theft ring" - arresting over 1,200 and having only 65 of those be for identity theft seems out of wack. I also fear for the families, the children left behind for no one to care for them. Where is the humanity in our country, in Iowa, where we would let our government do this be hard working people 13 days before Christmas? There is no right time to mistreat workers and I will raise my voice and offer any help that can be given to this horrible situation. My first thought is - let's rally at Camp Dodge where they are processing those arrested. Also food and any thing to provide for those who are now abandoned would also be worth gathering. --Alison in Mount Vernon, Iowa.
ajsmiles@excite.com

Anonymous said...

What people are "arrested" on and what they will ultimately be charged with are often very different things. Particularly in the realm of immigration law.