Indictments cite identity theft

LINCOLN -- A federal grand jury has indicted 17 people who were arrested last week by immigration authorities at a Fremont packing plant.

U.S. Attorney Deborah Gilg said Thursday that the 17 face charges such as document fraud, Social Security fraud, making false claims of U.S. citizenship and aggravated identity theft. The indicted range in age from 21 to 49.

Gilg said each of those charged is alleged to have used the identity of an American citizen who had complained of identity theft to the Federal Trade Commission.

Most of the defendants live in Fremont and Schuyler, but their countries of origin include Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and El Salvador.

In recent years, Fremont has become a prominent battleground in Nebraska disputes over illegal immigration.

After the City Council rejected an ordinance to ban local residents from hiring or renting living quarters to illegal immigrants, some citizens mounted a petition drive to put the proposal on the ballot.

The Nebraska Supreme Court is weighing the city's attempt to block that vote on grounds that the proposal conflicts with federal law.

Leticia Zamarripa, an El Paso, Texas-based spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the arrests at Fremont Beef Co. were unrelated to the town's illegal immigration disputes.

Zamarripa said the agency “doesn't conduct sweeps or raids to target undocumented immigrants indiscriminately. Enforcement actions are based on intelligence and investigation. There's nothing random about them.”

Investigations might be initiated by a tip or complaint, she said.

State Sen. Charlie Janssen who voted for the ordinance while on the Fremont City Council said the arrests show that residents have cause for concern about illegal immigration.

“I don't think Fremont is unique in the issues we have with illegal immigration other communities are hit worse,” he said. “It was that ordinance that put us right at the focal point.”

Kris Kobach, a law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, is defending the effort to put the immigration ordinance before voters.

Kobach said illegal immigration frequently involves “the commission of associated crimes.”

“Identity fraud is a huge problem in this country and one of the things that people fail to mention is that the single greatest driver of identity fraud is the illegal employment of unauthorized workers,” he said.

An immigrant worker using another person's Social Security number can create a “huge mess” for that person with the Internal Revenue Service, because of the additional income reported for that number. The problem often is compounded, he said, when several immigrants use the same number.

Amy Peck, an immigration attorney, said she was not familiar with the details of the Fremont case.

She said in many cases, the use of fraudulent documents or Social Security numbers does not involve stealing someone's identity.

Peck said a significant portion of the Social Security system is “propped up” by the payroll taxes of people working under others' Social Security numbers. Immigrant workers pay Social Security taxes, she said, with no opportunity to collect benefits.

“They're not taking away jobs. People don't want those jobs. That's why they're filled by immigrants,'' Peck said. “The community is not being harmed. They're paying their payroll taxes, buying food, living in houses and paying their rent. They're contributing economically to that community.''

If the Fremont ordinance had passed, Fremont Beef Co. could have faced penalties if it were found to have “knowingly” hired undocumented workers, Kobach said.

Les Leech, president of Fremont Beef, said last week that his company uses the government's E-Verify system to check the immigration status of new hires.

He said his workers were arrested after their names were checked against a Federal Trade Commission identity-theft database. Leech said he does not have access to that database.

Kobach said the proposed ballot issue in Fremont would require all local employers to use the E-Verify system. City licenses and city contracts could be cancelled for businesses that did not comply.

The possible penalty for document fraud includes up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine; for Social Security fraud, up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine; and for claiming false citizenship, up to three years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Aggravated identity theft can carry a penalty of at least two years in prison in addition to the penalty for document fraud and a $250,000 fine.

Contact the writer:

402-473-9581, leslie.reed@owh.com

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