Comments (24)

Dawn wrote on December 13, 2006 7:00 PM:

Separating a mother from a nursing infant is physically and psychologically traumatizing for both the woman and her baby. It is awful and shameful of INS to do that.

Skip wrote on December 13, 2006 8:01 PM:

Can't we use our gov't resources on more important things, like moving the lines more quickly at airport security checkpoints?

JM wrote on December 13, 2006 9:00 PM:

The last time I heard about tragic cases where we separated mothers from children like this we were talking about slavery. This just feels wrong. I know that one day, as with some of our past wrongs (slavery, Indians, Japanese internment camps, Tuskegee) we will try to make it right. But sorry just doesn't cut it.

hjs wrote on December 14, 2006 12:08 AM:

Actually, these people were arrested for identity theft. Apparerntly they stole the identities of American Citizens to get jobs. Identity theft is a felony as it well should be. It is tragic that a baby was seperated from its mother. Which is why it was exceedingly irresponsible for her to have committed a felony and risk the consequences that she now must face.

Nell wrote on December 14, 2006 12:48 AM:

Oh, for crying out loud, hjs. You have no idea whether this woman is even an illegal worker, much less whether she stole someone's identity to get a job. No matter what the situation is, taking human beings off to detention centers and refusing to accept inquiries about them or give out any information is totalitarian, a brutal violation of human rights and due process.

hjs wrote on December 14, 2006 1:24 AM:

Nell, I never stated that she was an illegal worker. I am basing my statement on news reports that this was targeted at people who stole identities of American citizens for the purpose of employment. Her legal status regarding her reisdency in the U.S. is irrelevant to me. If she didn't steal someones identity then she'll be fine. Being hauled off to a "detention center" and refusing to accept inquiries is pretty much what happens when you are arrested for a crime all over the world, at least in the first 24-48 hours of being charged. Which the time frame we are n now. She will get her day in court. Identity theft is a felony, and as anybody who has had their identity stolen will tell you, it can be a life changing experience and leaves one with a feeling of being violated.

JA in LA wrote on December 14, 2006 2:15 AM:

There's those family values again. How important is it to keep the family together again???

iamsofaking wrote on December 14, 2006 10:48 AM:

jhs is right, get some perspective. People who break the law and get arrested go to jail. You shouldn't be so surprised that having the mother arrested is hard on a family.

jimsaruff wrote on December 14, 2006 2:47 PM:

Where's Charles Dickens when you need him?

Colleen Clark wrote on December 14, 2006 8:00 PM:

It is criminal to separate a mother and her infant, much less one she is nursing.
The question of what the mother might be guilty of is one for the courts to deal with. Meanwhile mother and infant should be together.
Barbaric.

Nancy Irving wrote on December 17, 2006 10:53 PM:

The bit about "identity theft" is a red herring, and Immigration must know that it's dishonest to characterize these infractions as such.

What some of the arrestees may have done is to "rent" an American citizen's SS#, i.e., to give the citizen's SS# to an employer so that the illegal can work here.

This is usually done with the citizen's permission. I believe that sometimes the citizen is even paid for the privilege; plus, all the SS taxes paid on that SS# as a result of the illegal's work will go to the account of the citizen, not the illegal.

So the citizen who leases out his/her SS# in fact gains from the transaction; which could not be further from the situation of actual "identity theft," where the owner of the SS# is being ripped off.

To call what is happening here "identity theft" is demagoguery of the worst sort.

Sally wrote on December 20, 2006 6:21 PM:

In response to Nancy Irving -

In 1998 a law was passed making it a federal felony to present as your own a SSN that you know not to have been legitimately issued to you by the US Government, even for employment purposes. It does not matter how you procured the other person's vital information. It is still a felony. "Renting" another person's identity for employment purposes is still a felony.

And purely from a logical standpoint, if someone presents someone else's name, birthdate, and SSN, as their own then in my book they are assuming and therefore stealing the identity of that person. Whether or not they later incur any unpaid debt using this identity is irrelevant. Problems can and have arisen for the real persons without any sort of malicious financial theft.

Since the Swift company was using the basic pilot verification program since 1997, it seems reasonable that a large number of the arrested employees had committed this felony crime. The small number of arrested persons actually being prosecuted for identity theft is in my opinion related to the capacity of the courts and prosecutors.

It also supports the conclusion that this employment raid is merely a show to garner support from the public for an amnesty at a later date.

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