Monday
May042009
Supreme Court Rules On Identity Theft
Monday, May 4, 2009 at 3:17PM
By Suzia van Swol, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service
Ignacio Flores-Figueroa, a Mexican citizen, gave his employer a fake Social Security number and alien registration cards which had his name but numbers belonging to other people. He was arrested and charged with two immigration offenses and aggravated identity theft. The key word in the statute is the adverb “knowingly” because Flores said that it could not be proved that he knew the fake numbers belonged to other people instead of being made up of random digits.
Justice Breyer, who delivered the unanimous decision to the court, cranked up appetites in the courtroom today when he made the analogy that when “knowingly” eating a B.L.T sandwich, it is fair to assume that one is aware it will contain bacon, lettuce and tomato.
A federal statute imposed a mandatory two year sentence on anyone who “knowingly” uses an identity belonging to another person. The Supreme Court decided that prosecutors must prove that Flores didn’t know the false documents belonged to someone else.
The Supreme Court limited the use of the identity theft law in a unanimous court decision, ensuring that the law can no longer be used against workers who need false identification to get a job unless they use someone else's I.D.
Ignacio Flores-Figueroa, a Mexican citizen, gave his employer a fake Social Security number and alien registration cards which had his name but numbers belonging to other people. He was arrested and charged with two immigration offenses and aggravated identity theft. The key word in the statute is the adverb “knowingly” because Flores said that it could not be proved that he knew the fake numbers belonged to other people instead of being made up of random digits.
Justice Breyer, who delivered the unanimous decision to the court, cranked up appetites in the courtroom today when he made the analogy that when “knowingly” eating a B.L.T sandwich, it is fair to assume that one is aware it will contain bacon, lettuce and tomato.
A federal statute imposed a mandatory two year sentence on anyone who “knowingly” uses an identity belonging to another person. The Supreme Court decided that prosecutors must prove that Flores didn’t know the false documents belonged to someone else.
The Supreme Court limited the use of the identity theft law in a unanimous court decision, ensuring that the law can no longer be used against workers who need false identification to get a job unless they use someone else's I.D.
Reader Comments (6)
You say tomayto, I say tomoto. No matter how you say it, this was a bad, bad decision. I've been the victim of someone using my social security number and I had to pay the IRS dearly because they assumed wrongfully, that I made more money in a given year than I actually did. If the illegal immigrant can't be charged with identity theft for not knowing "whose" social security number he used; then I shouldn't have to pay the IRS since I don't know who used my number. He got away with his crime, whoever he was and I was left holding the bag (having to pay the IRS taxes on money I never received.) How can that possibly be fair to me? It's not, and I don't care to be fair to an illegal immigrant using a social security number that is not his or hers. I'm tired of being "fair" to these illegals.
Anonymous2: Flores was charged with other crimes as well, including two counts of misuse of immigration documents in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1546(a), and one count of entry without inspection under 8 U.S.C. § 1325(a). He was found guilty of the other crimes, in addition to the aggravated identity theft charge at issue in this case.
The point is that the illegal alien knew the number didn't belong to him, regardless of who it actually belonged to. He also knew that he was paying for a fake social security card.
So now if we knowingly buy a stolen car we haven't broken any laws unless we knew that the car actually belonged to an individual. This is absolutely absurd and insane!
A social security number, like a car, always belongs to someone from cradle to grave. Either the government owns it, before it is assigned to a legal citizen, or an individual owns it after it has been assigned. Either way, using a number that does not belong to you is theft.
We teach our children this. Do not take things that do not belong to you unless you have permission. It's stealing!!
This is truly insane.
Support the revised (SAVE) Act as it targets employers with stiff penalties for hiring illegal aliens, secures the northern and southern border by adding 8,000 new border patrol agents and increases interior enforcement by allowing for additional federal district court judges and provides more resources for law enforcement officers. In this package E-Verify would be mandatory, in-perpetuity driving illegal labor from the workplace. Rep. Heath Schuler's e-verification program, would require federal agencies, contractors and employers to verify the eligibility of --ALL EMPLOYEES--within one to four years, depending on the size of the company. Using this procedure, identity fraud fashioned through fake social security numbers and bogus ID's would be reduced significantly.
This is not about discrimination because E-verify is activated after someone has been hired,” Shuler said. “This helps to ensure that local officials can identify who they arrest. Interior enforcement is crucial.” It's essential that Americans back him and his sponsors when the act is introduced in the next few weeks. This is namely after Sen. Harry Reid(D-NV) and speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) silently neutralized E-Verify, plus 48 other members of the Senate. We cannot trust these pro-illegal immigrant--PARIAH--cheap labor--BUSINESS politicians. With over 12 million Americans out of work and large numbers of new veterans entering the workplace, nor can our own kids get Summer jobs. We just cannot accept any legalization of 13 to 20 million foreign nationals and the huge costs sustaining them. Offer your support to Rep.Shuler (D-NC) on his gov website. Phone: 828-252-1651 Learn more at NUMBERSUSA
Enforce the 1986 Simpson/Mazzoli bill, the Immigration Reform & Control Act as enacted.
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