Puerto Rican Identity Theft Scheme

Thousands of Puerto Ricans have been the target of an identity theft scheme, where birth certificates and other legal documents have been stolen and sold in the United States. At a time where tensions are high involving illegal immigration (especially among the Latino population) people are paying a high price for these documents.

Puerto Ricans have become a valuable source and excellent target for this scheme because of their Hispanic surnames and their United States citizenship. Birth certificates are documents that are commonly used in Puerto Rico, as children need them to enroll in school, join sports teams and join churches. This common need for carrying and presenting birth certificates means that many Puerto Ricans keep these documents easily accessible in their homes and unguarded. ICE agent Roberto Escobar says that a "tripleta" is the most valued package that one can purchase. It contains a birth certificate, driver's license, and social security card, and is named after the Puerto Rican street sandwich stuffed with three types of meat.

Puerto Rican documents have shown up in immigration raids in states throughout the U.S. Data was discovered from thousands of school children and from renewal license forms at the Puerto Rican Department of Motor Vehicles. These documents sell for up to $6,000 on the black market.

In an attempt to protect Puerto Ricans from identity theft, the Puerto Rican government is voiding all birth certificates starting July 1st, and requiring all citizens (a total of about 5 million) to apply for new documents which will have stronger security features. Old birth certificates will be annulled by September 30. For all the inconvenience and trouble in an attempt to curb the identity theft, the law does nothing to stop the people with documents already in circulation. It doesn't guarantee that people already holding stolen documents will not be able to use them to attain new ones.

Image Source: Paraconocer.com

News Source: Comcast.com

Citizens caught in broken immigration system

This week reports circulated that the White House will present its immigration reform plan as early as next month. It would certainly be a step in the right direction if it’s true. But as I mentioned in a previous post “I’ll believe it as soon as I see (President Obama’s) signature signing a fair and ample immigration reform law.”

In the meantime, mistakes continue in an immigration system in dire need of repair. Case in point: several U.S. citizens have been arrested and even deported.

According to a Los Angeles Times article published yesterday, citizens and legal residents held for suspected immigration violations may be held under detention for hours or even months. “Americans seldom carry proof of their legal status” the article noted which hinders verification of legal status. The probability of error is increased by the “fast-track” deportation system which bars legal representation for detainees (though that could soon change).

Oftentimes, however, it is incompetence by authorities that leads to the deportation of U.S. citizens. In 2007, a mentally disabled U.S. citizen was erroneously deported to Mexico and spent three months missing before being reunited with his family. Then there’s the case of Rennison Vern Castillo- a U.S. citizen who spent several months in detention:

(In 2005) Castillo was handcuffed and whisked off in a van to the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. A federal officer said records showed he was an illegal immigrant.

"Your records are wrong," Castillo said he replied. He said he told the officer that he was a citizen but that his naturalization certificate had never arrived. It was sent to the wrong address, he later learned.

Castillo went before an immigration judge, who appeared via video conference, a common procedure in the crowded immigration court system. Again, he claimed citizenship. The judge didn't believe him. He was ordered deported on Jan. 24, 2006…

The Board of Immigration Appeals blocked Castillo's deportation, noting proof of his military service. A month later, he was released without further explanation. It turned out Castillo was the victim of a paperwork mix-up: His name was spelled wrong in immigration records. And he had been assigned more than one "alien number," causing further confusion. – [ed. emphasis added]

Image- The Daily Weekly (Immigration officials conducted a raid last month in Washington).
Online Sources- Los Angeles Times, CNN, The Latin Americanist

News Briefs: Immigration

* A U.S. federal judge granted a temporary injunction against a controversial immigration law that included all employers to register with a federal data base.

* Meanwhile, South Carolina passed yesterday a tougher immigration law which goes beyond Oklahoma’s by barring illegal immigrants from receiving public assistance or attending state colleges.

* A report from the Pew Hispanic Center claims that Latino unemployment, especially among illegal immigrants, has spiked higher than the general population.

* A senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official told Congress that the government plans to release more data on detainees who die in U.S. federal detention centers.

* Speaking of ICE, agents reported that 491 people were detained in raids in New York and New Jersey in May alone.

Sources- WJBF, JURIST, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, newsday.com

Racist raids on the rails?

Pro-immigration advocates held a small protest yesterday in front of New York’s Penn Station to reject allegedly discriminatory practices on Amtrak and Greyhound. They expressed their opposition to unannounced raids conducted by immigration officials after passengers board the bus or train.

Depending on your judgment the raids may or may not be unfair. Yet they hardly seem effective as this excerpt from the New York Times’ City Room blog revealed:

But how does one exactly prove citizenship?...

“All you have to do is state you are a U.S. citizen,” [Department of Homeland Security spokesman Ramon] Rivera said of the Border and Customs Patrol.

That’s it? That seemed suspiciously simple. What if people lie?

And indeed they do. Each year, “We have thousands of people falsely claiming to a U.S. citizens,” he said.

Well, then a simple declarative statement of citizenship doesn’t seem to be a very effective filter, does it?

That’s where the biometric fingerprints, background checks and interviews come in, he explained.

Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff defended U.S. immigration policy yesterday during a Senate hearing.

Image- NY1

Sources- New York Sun, City Room, NY1, the Border Line