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"Identity Theft" a Red Herring in DHS Raids, Numbers Show

Announcing the success of its massive "Operation Wagon Train" yesterday, DHS officials insisted the raids that netted nearly 1,300 arrests were about busting up an identity theft ring. The stats tell a different story.

According to DHS' own tally, only 65 of the 1,282 arrests were for criminal violations, including identity-theft related crimes. That means that over 1,200 of the people arrested had no connection to any identity theft rings, and were guilty only of run-of-the-mill immigration violations. That didn't temper the agency's rhetoric.

“'Enforcement actions like this one protect the privacy rights of innocent Americans while striking a blow against illegal immigration,'” an official press release quotes DHS chief Michael Chertoff.

"[H]undreds of these illegal aliens may have illegally assumed the identities of U.S. citizens," the press release goes on the explain, "and improperly used their Social Security numbers and other identity documents in order to gain employment at Swift facilities."

Hundreds? A couple dozen, maybe. At a press conference yesterday, Chertoff explained the difference between the rhetorical numbers and the actual ones by saying he expected the number of identity-theft related arrests to rise as arrestees are processed.

But that sounds like optimistic spin: according to an ICE official I interviewed yesterday, the federal agents raiding the plants had technology on-site to check the validity of workers' immigration documents.

"We had access to databases to ensure the green cards they were showing us were real ID cards and belonged to the person who held it," spokesman Michael Keegan told me.

So the question remains: what was the purpose of the raids? The Denver Post says they were a way for the Bush administration to pressure Congress to act on immigration -- the Congress which is in recess for several weeks, but has already said immigration is a top issue for next session. The Chicago Tribune quotes one Beltway cynic who thinks the raids are just a harsh cover for the White House to push amnesty for illegals next year. And of course we've talked to one lobbyist who says she has no earthly idea why DHS took action when it did.


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In Washington DC (a city notoriously bad at clearing snow), ex-Mayor Marion Barry would frequently reassure citizens during the occasional 6-inch blizzard by saying he had "dozens of plows working 'round the clock." Which of course really meant one plow.

That's what I thought of when I read this.

Maybe the raid was cover for a terrorist clearing operation. And if there were terrorists at Swift, I fully expect the USG to prosecute that company for harboring terrorists under the "Patriot Act."

(the preceeding was primarily sarcastic)

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The purpose is to enhance the Republican chances in 2008 by pissing off big employers, consumers and folks of Latin decent. It the "New Way Forward" Rove style.

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Anyone know where these folks are being held? And does anyone know where Halliburton is building those stateside detention centers?

http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/02/04/national/04halliburton.html

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If an undocumented worker uses my Social Security number to work for Swift, does that mean that his paycheck deductions go into MY Social Security account? Do I have a problem with that? Take my identity -- please! Just make sure you and Swift keep contributing to my account, though.

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Unfortunately, it also means you owe income taxes on that amount assuming the employer did not hold enough (though anecdotally, I have heard of one case of someone getting a refund after their identity was stolen.

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I think DHS uncovered the identity theft ring and it led them to investigate the Swift plants. They used it as an excuse for the massive raids because it makes them look like they're doing something constructive. This is just a spat between a meatpacker and a regulator; ask OSHA how they feel about the Cattle and Hog Butchers to the World. The government usually negotiates some far lesser penalty for the packers because...um, how would you feel about your T-bone costing a dollar a pound more?

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It was a practice exercise for martial law activity to follow over the next couple of years.

"The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist thinks it will change; the realist adjusts the sails." - William Arthur Ward

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misusing a SSN (whether it's real or not) is not really identity theft; it's just a desparate person providing a number that is required for employment.
As part of my job, I have access to the wage files for the entire state. One of the first things I did with the data was find the misuse of SSNs. I was able to find the most common SSN used for multiple employers but different employee names, and then discovered a whole series of numbers where only the last few digits were changed and used repeatedly. It was like someone came up with a SSN that worked for awhile and then shared variations in the work van each day. Funny part was the the employers probably knew the SSN was fake. It would not be difficult to track any of this. I figured it out in an afternoon.

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Look at the disruption to family and community when just under 1,300 are rounded up. Now extrapolate that to 13,000,000.

Hard line Republican would deport all 13 million if they could. Now how stupid is that base on a sampling that is 1/10,000 of what they are asking for.

The problem here is the spin. If DHS had the guts to say that this is a warning to employers that hire the illegals rather than pertend it was about identity theft it would be helpful. On the other hand, what are the consequences to Swift for this obvious lawbreaking. Maybe DHS was stupid enough to think it was about identity theft. They do have a bad track record.

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What I'd like to know is: which meatpacking rival profits the most from the disruptions at Swift?

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ICE had significant raids on Florida employers this past summer I believe although the multi-state scale is larger with Swift. Dam's of course account for the Florida raids as yet another political ploy by Karl Rove.

Meanwhile labor statistics show young men with only a high school degree are increasingly dropping out of the labor force because they can't find jobs. Dem's of course show much more concern for the illegals, who probably took their jobs.

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Connecting the dots, I see the DHS is also pushing their RealID plan. I can easily imagine them wanting to use the threat of "identity theft" to raise the urgency of a new national ID, and, since INS is part of DHS, illegal workers were an easy target. Never mind that a single ID card makes identity theft *easier*, IMHO.

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It's a good way to disrupt union organizing drives at the meat-packing plants.

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Good point libra.

This is all about pushing the guest worker program. See what happened to the poor children and that is exactly why we need a guest worker program. See.

I've said all along the employer knew about the phoney soc. sec. numbers. They willingly ignored it in exchange for cheap labor with no benefits provided.

This is also an excuse to force all of us to have an ID card although it will never be fail safe. More big brother at work.

Once they pass this ID card business they will use it for all sorts of evil to keep track of what all citizens are doing. At state lines they will probably have checkpoints where we will be required to show ID. Basically, this ID we will used for most everything we do. It's another form of spying.

They are using this raid as an excuse to get a guest worker program and then wrap all kinds of nasty things into a bill that has the affect of tracing our every step. Citizens and noncitizens alike.

Our government is determined to get a guest worker program. One way to do that is to keep raiding, but never finding the employer at fault when they do it.

What they want to do is get everyone riled about these raids and shoo in the guest worker program. Of course, the guest worker program will work against everyone because it will lower wages by allowing even more people in to take our jobs at lower wages who are not citizens and may never intend to become citizens.

Get a guest worker program that allows every illegal here to stay plus let even more people in through the program and you end up with an over supply of labor. What follows is a lowering of all our wages.

Until something is done to stop illegal immigration it will do no good to raise the minimum wage. Raising the minimum wage will further encourage employers to hire more illegals so they don't have to pay the increased wages.

Instead of encouraging foreign countries to raise their wages they want to lower the wages of the American worker to meet the wage level of foreign countries.

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libra, the answer to your question is probably Tyson Foods. They are the nation's, and the world's, biggest beef processor; I would their daily kill is about double that of Swift, close to 30,000 a day, nearly 1/4 of US slaughter. I really doubt this action was taken to benefit Swift's competitors--the federal government has had its own battles with Tyson, and in fact lost a lawsuit in which they accused Tyson of systematically herding up illegal aliens and transporting them to their chicken plants. The other thing to keep in mind is DHS has managed, with one fell swoop, to piss of the congressional delegations of six states--the plants were located in Texas, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota. DHS could not win this deal. I really don't think they're the villains in this piece.

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I believe it has become abundantly clear that DHS doesn't know what it's doing.

Our error may be trying to divine their strategy.

They don't have one.

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Regarding TPMmuckraker's report that most illegals at Swift got so-called "administrative arrest" which for men, and women without minor children, usually seems to result in deportation after legal proceedings. Only about 10% of those arrested were charged with criminal charges which apparently ICE reserves for those involved in manufacturing or distributing false documents, or obviously a previous deportation or warrant.

However that has to be reconciled with the fact that I believe Swift said they used Homeland Security's SS number computerized check, which would likely be a check on new employee's for a valid SS number and name. Therefore it's likely that many illegals working at Swift had false documents with a valid SS number and name.

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While I agree that the Bush guest-worker program is indeed part of a right-wing strategy to drive down wages here, any thoughtful critiques thereof have been drowned out in populist-nationalist rhetoric. As an unemployed (anglo) young person who will make very little more than the present minimum wage, I am *not* opposed to Mexican immigration. Working people on both sides of the border need a fairer shake; the answer is U.S and Canada-funded economic development in Mexico, not fences. It worked in the E.U. -- the richer countries pumped billions into Portugal and Greece. It could work here too. In the mean time, progressives on both sides of the border need to work together to push for sensible, serious social-democratic redistribution. The problem is that big bu$ine$$ in both countries doesn't give a damn about the worker. Workers need to team up, rather than quareling amongst themselves! Now I know, this country is too right-wing for that to happen now, but progressives need to work together to help change that.

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Chertoff and his Fatherland security ICE team are real bastards.

Nothing is more cruel and unusual than creating homeless AMERICAN children, and at Christmas time no less.

How can those bastards split families like that?
Is that "American family values?"

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In the first place, 65 is rather more than "a few dozen." And, using someone else's social security number *is* an identity theft crime. Presumably, each and every one of those workers was using a stolen social security number in addition to having entered the country illegally.

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In the first place, 65 is rather more than "a few dozen." And, using someone else's social security number *is* an identity theft crime. Presumably, each and every one of those workers was using a stolen social security number in addition to having entered the country illegally.

Posted by: Anonymous
Date: December 15, 2006 12:55 PM

Keep that in mind the next time you get hauled off the street and thrown in a cell with no access to a lawyer, a phone or medical attention while ICE/DHS 'sort things out'.

And heaven forbid if you have children waiting for you to get home to make dinner.

-GFO

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When I first heard of these arrests I thought about the detention camps. I said, "Okay, here it starts". Halliburton's big contract for building detention camps. First for "illegals" then for "dissenters". It's time to leave this country, people, make your plans and get out. How badly I feel for all those children whose parents didn't come home. Where are the parents? What has happened to these people? You don't hear a damn thing about this on mainstream news, but it gives me the shivers right down to the innermost marrow of my bones.

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Once you get locked up there is no getting out. That is what the patriot act was all about. The private prisons will do what ever they want to with you because evil has overcome our leaders.

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The raids were conducted at plants that are all owned by one company. It would be interesting to learn the political donation habits of the companie's owners and exectutives.

WalMart is the only company I know of that has an agreement with the U.S. government to be notified in advance of any immigration raids on any of its stores or facilities.

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Why not a comprehensive immigration program one might say? Although there are no federal statistics kept on murders or any other crimes committed by illegal aliens, many groups have produced estimates based on data collected from prisons, news and magazine reports, and independent research. Are you surprised the federal government does not maintain statistics on the illegal alien issue? Anyway, estimates show twelve Americans are murdered each and every day by illegal aliens. You know, those people who are just here to do jobs Americans will not do. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, releases these statistics. When you multiply those figures by the number of days since 9/11, it translates to 4,380 per year and 22,980 Americans to date.
A total U.S. troop death in Iraq as of this date is reported at 2,903.
Rep. King also reports illegal aliens murder 12 Americans daily and he says drunk illegal alien drivers kill 13. This for another annual death toll of 4,745. That is 23,725 since Sept. 11, 2001.
While no one – in or out of government – tracks all U.S. accidents caused by illegal aliens, the statistical and anecdotal evidence suggests many of last year's 42,636 road deaths involved illegal aliens.
A report by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Study found 20 percent of fatal accidents involve at least one driver who lacks a valid license. In California, another study showed that those who have never held a valid license are about five times more likely to be involved in a fatal road accident than licensed drivers are.
Statistically, that makes them an even greater danger on the road than drivers whose licenses have been suspended or revoked – and nearly as dangerous as drunk drivers.
King also reports eight American children are victims of sexual abuse by illegal aliens every day – a total of 2,920 annually.
Based on a one-year in-depth study, Deborah Schurman-Kauflin of the Violent Crimes Institute of Atlanta estimates there are about 240,000 illegal immigrant sex offenders in the United States who have had an average of four victims each. She analyzed 1,500 cases from January 1999 through April 2006 that included serial rapes, serial murders, sexual homicides, and child molestation committed by illegal immigrants.
As the number of illegal aliens in the U.S. increases, so does the number of American victims.
According to Edwin Rubenstien, president of ESR Research Economic Consultants, in Indianapolis in 1980, federal and state correctional facilities held fewer than 9,000 criminal aliens. However, at the end of 2003, approximately 267,000 illegal aliens were incarcerated in all U.S. jails and prisons.
While the federal government does not track illegal alien murders, illegal alien rapes, or illegal alien drunk driving deaths, it has studied illegal aliens incarcerated in U.S. prisons.
In April 2005, the Government Accountability Office released a report on a study of 55,322 illegal aliens incarcerated in federal, state, and local facilities during 2003. It found the following:
• The 55,322 illegal aliens studied represented a total of 459,614 arrests – some eight arrests per illegal alien;
• Their arrests represented a total of about 700,000 criminal offenses – some 13 offenses per illegal alien;
• 36 percent had been arrested at least five times before.
"While the vast majority of illegal aliens are decent people who work hard and are only trying to make a better life for themselves and their families, (something you or I would probably do if we were in their place), it is also a fact that a disproportionately high percentage of illegal aliens are criminals and sexual predators," states Peter Wagner, author of a new report called "The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration." "That is part of the dark side of illegal immigration and when we allow the 'good' in we get the 'bad' along with them. The question is, how much 'bad' is acceptable and at what price?"
The troop death in Iraq to date is 2,903 Americans have died since the war began March 1, 2003. It was recently said by syndicated columnist Jonah Goldberg on reports that the war in Iraq has lasted longer than World War II: America's involvement in World War II may have lasted 1,347 days, but it cost the lives of 406,000 Americans and wounded 600,000 more. Losses among Allied civilians and military personnel stretched into the tens of millions. Whole cities were razed, populations displaced, economies shattered. The number of U.S. military deaths in Iraq remains below 1 percent of our WWII losses.

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I won't argue that 9,000 people die a year in the US because of illegal immigration. However, how does that compare to the 350,000 that die every year from smoking ? If you really wanted to get more bang for the buck saving American lives you'd start by getting more of your family, neighbors, and friends to quit. Illegal immigration is a problem but treating people like animals solves nothing.

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