Sunday, April 23, 2006

A Failure To Protect

The Federal government seems to be withholding evidence of fraud by perhaps countless thousands of illegal aliens. This article by the Star-Telegram, Evidence of Work Fraud Untapped, relates that:

"The Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration routinely collect strong evidence of potential workplace crimes, including the names and addresses of millions of people who are using bogus Social Security numbers, their wage records and the identities of those who hire them."

"But they keep those facts secret."


So much for the new era of interagency cooperation promised by our president.

"The two agencies don't analyze their data to root out likely immigration fraud -- and law enforcement authorities can't do so because the agencies won't share their data."

If I remember correctly, the Homeland Security Act of 2002 established broad powers for federal agencies to gather and share information. Except if it actually may indicate if someone is breaking the law.

"The IRS doesn't fine employers who repeatedly submit inaccurate data on workers. Social Security does virtually nothing to alert citizens whose Social Security numbers are being used by others.

Evidence abounds within their files, according to an analysis by Knight Ridder Newspapers and The Charlotte Observer.

One internal study found that a restaurant company had submitted 4,100 duplicate Social Security numbers for workers. Other firms submit inaccurate names or numbers for nearly all their employees. One child's Social Security number was used 742 times by workers in 42 states."

But God forbid if a law-abiding tax-paying citizen makes a mistake in his Schedule A or one of the hundreds of tax documents spawned by thousands and thousands of pages of our nation's convoluted tax laws. They will literally hound you to Hell. Except if you are an illegal alien.

"The potential crimes are so obvious that the failure to provide such information to investigators raises questions about Washington's determination to end the widespread hiring of illegal immigrants.

An estimated 7 million unauthorized workers are employed in the United States. They're picking crops, building homes and tending yards. In some cases, they work for the government on public projects that pay them with taxpayer money.

They've built roads in North Carolina and military housing in California and even helped rebuild the Pentagon after 9-11, until law enforcement found out."

The information to catch illegals and prosecute the businesses who employ them has been kept in government databases since 1937. Perhaps it was used for that purpose years ago but it seems to be ignored now.

"Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has asked Congress for access to earnings reports, sent by employers with money withheld for taxes and Social Security. The reports contain workers' names and Social Security numbers, and when they don't match Social Security records, the information is set aside in what's called the Earnings Suspense File."

"The incorrect worker files mushroomed during the 1990s as immigrants poured into the United States. Almost half the inaccurate reports come from industries such as agriculture, construction and restaurants.

"We believe the chief cause of [unmatched] wage items ... is unauthorized work by noncitizens," Social Security Inspector General Patrick O'Carroll told Congress in February.
The IRS also receives the mismatch information.

Particularly disturbing is that possibly millions of the Social Security numbers belong to other people."


This is fraud on an unbelieveable scale. And if they have someone's social security information, what else are they doing with it, such as credit card and welfare fraud?

"In Utah, after Social Security provided data for one criminal inquiry, investigators discovered that the Social Security numbers of 2,000 children were being used by other people.

"What do you think we'd find if we had the ability to analyze all of their information?" said Kirk Torgensen, Utah's chief deputy attorney general. "It would be invaluable. How shortsighted is it that the government doesn't follow this trail?"

About as shortsighted as everything else the government has done regarding the virtually uncontested invasion of our southern borders.

No comments: