fraud

Following paragraphs are from the article.

“…When the issue of immigration comes up most people purely focus on the lack of integrity to the border that is supposed to separate the United States from America. Clearly that border lacks integrity and represents little more than a speed bump to smugglers who transport illegal aliens and contraband including record quantities of dangerous drugs such as heroin and cocaine into the United States.

“However, there are many more components to the immigration system including systems by which aliens are granted visas to enter the United States and various immigration benefits such as conferring employment authorization to aliens in the United States and also include the adjudication process by which aliens are granted lawful immigrant status and even United States citizenship.

“All of these systems of the immigration system lack integrity. …”

Michael Cutler is a retired Senior Special Agent of the former INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) whose career spanned some 30 years. He hosts his radio show, “The Michael Cutler Hour,” on Friday evenings on BlogTalk Radio.

  Read more about Congressional oversight on immigration is actually Congressional overlook;

Illegal aliens may enjoy a free pass on identity theft due to a new investigative policy at California’s Department of Motor Vehicles  (DMV).

The policy, issued last year and effective as of Jan. 1, 2015, directs DMV investigators to overlook identity theft by applicants “who may have attempted to obtain or been issued a license or ID card previously through submission of false information.”

A DMV source who asked to remain anonymous provided Breitbart News exclusively with a copy of the newly enacted internal policy memorandum. The document informs DMV investigative officers that past identity theft is acceptable when the illegally acquired IDs were only used to obtain a driver license, and where the license or ID was not used to commit any other crime....

The policy seems to expect applicants to admit voluntarily to using a fraudulent driver license or ID for purposes other than driving a motor vehicle, if they did so.  Typically, identity theft may be prosecuted as a felony in California. The new DMV policy may be an attempt to protect illegal aliens from prosecution and conviction for a felony that could lead to their deportation, and disqualify them from President Barack Obama’s new “executive amnesty” policy.

... a naturalized or natural born U.S. citizen who attempted to obtain a driver license fraudulently would not receive the same consideration, and would be prosecuted as a criminal....

  Read more about California DMV ordered to overlook identity theft by illegals

States that grant driver's licenses to illegal aliens are beginning to see growing evidence of fraud in the application process.

This month, the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles ("DMV") announced that many out-of-state aliens have been fraudulently applying for driver's licenses in Vermont. (Watchdog, Jan. 22, 2015) The Vermont DMV made this announcement after it uncovered that at least 130 applications at just one of its DMV offices last month were filled out using false address information. (Id.) When applicants later arrived in person to take the driving portion of the test, investigators learned that many of these applicants were illegal aliens who had paid $2,000 to individuals in New York for help to obtain Vermont driver's licenses. (Id.)

Vermont is not the only state experiencing high instances of fraud in relation to its driver's license law. New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez recently re-ignited her appeal to dump New Mexico's driver's license law that allows illegal aliens to receive regular driver's licenses, in violation of the REAL ID Act. (KOAT Albuquerque, Jan. 20, 2015) Indeed, New Mexico has experienced high instances of fraud as a result of granting driver's licenses to illegal aliens. During an audit between August 2010 and April 2011, investigators found that as much as 75 percent of foreign national license applications were phonies. (KRQE) Between that same period, investigators also uncovered 37 percent of foreign national requests for appointments came from out-of-state, most from Arizona, Georgia, and Texas. (Fox News, Jan. 25, 2012)

Tennessee, which also passed a law to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens in 2004, has similarly experienced high instances of fraud in the application process. (Watchdog, Jan. 22, 2015) The state ultimately repealed the law in 2007 after it became apparent to officials that granting driver's licenses to illegal aliens contributed to "an excess of fraudulent resident documents." (Id.)

This month, the State of California is flooded with new applicants for driver's licenses after it began implementing Assembly Bill 60, its new law which grants driver's licenses to illegal alien residents. After the first week of implementation, the California DMV reported that over 46,200 aliens had applied for the special license. (KHTS, Jan. 6, 2015) Of this number, only about a third of the applicant pool passed both the written and driving portions of the test, with 64% of applicants failing. (Id.) California's new law is expected to cost the state over $220 million dollars over the next three years to implement. (Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary)

Driver's license legislation is proving once again to be a hot topic in state legislatures for the third year in a row, with some legislators still pushing to extend driving privileges to illegal aliens despite the mounting evidence of fraud in states that already do. For example, legislators in Rhode Island and Texas reintroduced legislation this month to extend driver's licenses to illegal aliens, after unsuccessful attempts in both states to push the idea last year. (Valley Breeze, Jan. 14, 2015; House Bill 68; Senate Bill 132)

Legislators in other states, however, are seeking a step back. In New Mexico, legislators followed Governor Martinez's appeal and introduced bills change the state's law. Representative Paul Pacheco introduced House Bill "H.B." 32 that would amend New Mexico law to only grant lower tier "driver's privilege cards" to illegal aliens instead of regular driver's licenses. (H.B. 32) Representative William Rehm went even further by introducing H.B. 79 to repeal New Mexico's law completely and reduce the period of validity for driver's licenses to only an alien's period of authorized stay. (H.B. 79) Read more about Illegal Alien Driver's Licenses Invite Fraud to States

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Mexican man living unlawfully in the United States for decades was arrested Tuesday in an identity theft scheme that was so ingenious that prosecutors say a court unwittingly changed the name of the U.S. citizen whose identity he assumed to his own real name.

The 33-count indictment outlining one of the most unusual identity theft cases in the country....

Unsealed Tuesday in federal court in Wichita, the indictment against Perez-Rivera and his 82-year-old wife, Antonia Vargas-Ortega, outlines a sporadic history of unlawful entry into the United States that dates as far back as the 1950s...

The government contends Perez-Rivera succeeded in fooling scores of state and federal agencies — with the exception of the times he tried to get Supplemental Social Security Income benefits from the Social Security Administration, where the scam finally unraveled...

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Anderson, who has prosecuted hundreds of immigration-related cases, said he has never seen one in which a defendant allegedly changed the identity theft victim's name to his own name.

The couple settled in California around 1980. Immigration officials arrested Perez-Rivera in 1981 for being in the country unlawfully, but did not take his wife into custody because of three adolescent children in the home, according to the indictment. Instead of surrendering herself to immigration officials the next day as promised, she fled. Court documents not indicate the outcome of his arrest...

In June 2011, an investigator from the Social Security Administration interviewed Perez-Rivera and seized all his identity documents. He was not charged at the time. The government says Perez-Rivera got a new Kansas driver's license less than a month later by claiming he had lost his old one. Prosecutors say he tried in 2012 to replace the seized U.S. passport, falsely declaring again he was U.S. citizen. That time, his application was denied. Read more about Impostor changed name of ID theft victim

According to the Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) Inmate Population Profile dated October 1, 2014 DOC indicated there were 14,606 prisoners incarcerated in DOC’s 14 prisons (See attachment).

Not included in DOC’s October 1st Inmate Population Profile was DOC data indicating there were 1,086 foreign nationals (criminal aliens) incarcerated in its prison system (See attachment).

All 1,086 criminal aliens incarcerated on October 1st by DOC had United States (U.S.) Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), detainers. The U.S. DHS–ICE is responsible for identifying whether a DOC inmate is a criminal alien or a domestic inmate. If an inmate is identified as being a criminal alien, at U.S. DHS–ICE’s request, the DOC places an “ICE detainer” on the inmate that directs DOC officials to transfer custody to ICE following completion of the inmate’s state sanction.

Criminal aliens made up approximately 7.43% of the DOC October 1st prison population (See table).
 

Source: Research and Evaluation DOC Unit-ICE inmates lists 01 OCTOBER 07rtf – 01 OCTOBER 14.rtf and Inmate Population Profile 01 OCTOBER 07 – 01 OCTOBER 14.

Comparing DOC criminal alien incarceration numbers from October 1, 2007 (985 criminal aliens) and October 1, 2014 (1,086 criminal aliens), the DOC prison system incarcerated 101 criminal aliens more than it did on October 1, 2007, a 10.25% increase (See table).
 

Source: Research and Evaluation DOC Unit-ICE inmates lists 01 OCTOBER 07rtf – 01 OCTOBER 14.rtf and Inmate Population Profile 01 OCTOBER 07 – 01 OCTOBER 14.

When comparing DOC domestic criminal incarceration numbers from October 1, 2007 (12,568 domestic criminals) and October 1, 2014 (13,520 domestic criminals), the DOC prison system incarcerated 952 domestic criminals more than it did on October 1, 2007, a 7.57% increase (See table).
 

Source: Research and Evaluation DOC Unit-ICE inmates lists 01 OCTOBER 07rtf – 01 OCTOBER 14.rtf and Inmate Population Profile 01 OCTOBER 07 – 01 OCTOBER 14.

Bringing the preceding numbers together, from October 1st 2007– 2014, seven years, the DOC prison population grew by 1,053 domestic and criminal alien prisoners; 9.59% of the overall growth was in criminal alien prisoners.

A review of the 1,086 criminal aliens in DOC prisons by number per county and percentage (%) per county equated to the following: 263-Marion (24.22%); 258-Multnomah (23.76%); 184-Washington (16.94%); 79-Clackamas (7.27%); 54-Lane (4.97%); 49-Jackson (4.51%); 29-Yamhill (2.67%); 26-Linn (2.39%); 19-Umatilla (1.75%); 17-Deschutes (1.56%); 15-Polk (1.38%); 14-Benton (1.29%); 12-Malheur (1.10%); 10-Lincoln (0.92%); 9-Jefferson (0.83%); 8-Klamath (0.74%); 7-Douglas (0.64%); 5-Josephine (0.46%); 5-Morrow (0.46%); 4-Coos (0.37%); 3-Clatsop (0.28%); 3-Hood River (0.28%); 3-Tillamook (0.28%); 3-Wasco (0.28%); 2-Crook (0.18%); 2-Union (0.18); 1-Columbia (0.09%); 1-Gilliam (0.09%); 1-OOS (0.09%); 0-Baker (0.00%); 0-Curry (0.00%); 0-Grant (0.00%); 0-Harney (0.00%); 0-Lake (0.00); 0-Sherman (0.00%); 0-Wallowa (0.00%); and 0-Wheeler (0.00%).

No member of the Oregon State Legislature should forget the uncounted crime victims and their families, no matter what their immigration status, all victims of the 1,086 criminal aliens incarcerated in DOC prisons.

A review of the 1,086 criminal aliens in the DOC prison population by numbers per crime and percentage (%) per crime equated to the following: 200-sex abuses (18.42%); 172-rapes (15.84%); 159-drugs (14.64%); 144-homicides (13.26%); 98-assaults (9.02%); 98-sodomies (9.02%); 66-robberies (6.08%); 42-kidnappings (3.87%); 21-burglaries (1.93%); 14-thefts (1.29%); 11-driving offenses (1.01%); 3-vehicle thefts (0.28%); 1-arsons (0.09%); 1-forgery (0.09%); and 56 other types of crime or a combination of the preceding crimes (5.16%).

Oregon State Legislators should not overlook the source of the preceding crimes, the country of origin of the 1,086 criminal aliens in DOC prisons.

The self-declared counties of origin of the 1,086 criminal aliens in the DOC prison population by numbers and percentage (%) per country equated to the following: 873-Mexico (80.39%); 32-Guatemala (2.95%); 19-Vietnam (1.75%); 16-El Salvador (1.47%); 12-Cuba (1.10%); 11-Honduras (1.01%); 10-Russia (0.92%); 10-Ukraine (0.92%); 8-Federated States of Micronesia (0.74%); 6-Laos (0.55%); 6-Philippines (0.55%); and 83 from other counties (7.64%).

Beyond the DOC criminal alien incarceration numbers and incarceration percentages, per county and per crime type, or even country of origin, criminal aliens pose high economic cost on Oregonians.

An individual prisoner incarcerated in the DOC prison system costs the state approximately ($87.08) per day (See link).

http://www.oregon.gov/doc/GECO/docs/pdf/IB_53_Quick_Facts_06_14.pdf

The DOC’s incarceration cost for its 1,086 criminal alien prison population is approximately ($94,568.88) per day, ($661,982.16) per week, and ($34,517,641.20) per year.

Even taking into account fiscal year 2013 United States Federal Government State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) award of $2,146,935.00, if the State of Oregon receives the same amount of SCAAP funding for fiscal year 2014, the cost to incarcerate 1,086 criminal aliens to the DOC will be at least ($32,370,706.20) (See link).

https://www.bja.gov/Funding/13SCAAPawards.pdf

None of preceding cost estimates for the DOC to incarcerate the 1,086 criminal aliens include the dollar amount for legal services (indigent defense), court costs, nor cost estimates to cover victim assistance.

An unfortunate fact, the State of Oregon is not fully cooperating with the U.S. DHS–ICE to fight crime committed by criminal aliens who reside in Oregon.

In year 2007, a United States Department of Justice (USDOJ) report titled “Cooperation of SCAAP (State Criminal Alien Assistance Program) Recipients in the Removal of Criminal Aliens from the United States, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Inspector General Audit Division, Audit Report 07-07, October 2007, Redacted-Public Version” identified the State of Oregon as having an official “state sanctuary statute,” ORS 181.850 Enforcement of federal immigration laws (See link).

http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/reports/OJP/a0707/final.pdf

The USDOJ, the federal governments top law enforcement agency, identified Oregon as a “sanctuary” for criminal aliens.

An Oregon law, Oregon Revised Statue 181.850 (ORS 181.850), Section (1), prohibits Oregon law enforcement (Oregon State Police (OSP), county sheriffs, city police departments) from asking immigration status of anyone residing in the State of Oregon “for the purpose of detecting or apprehending persons whose only violation of law is that they are persons of foreign citizenship present in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws.” Under ORS 181.850, Section (2), Oregon law enforcement October exchange information with U.S. DHS–ICE . . . “in order to: Subsection (a), “Verify the immigration status of a person if the person is arrested for any criminal offense;” or, Subsection (b), “Request criminal investigation information with reference to persons named in records of the” U.S. DHS–ICE . . . (See link).

http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/lawsstatutes/2013ors181.html

The State of Oregon should no longer be classified by U.S. federal government law enforcement as having an official “state sanctuary statute” for criminal aliens, nor should Oregon be a sanctuary for criminal aliens to kill, rape, maim or abuse Oregonians. Read more about Seven Year Report: Criminal Aliens Incarcerated Oregon Department

Just released by FAIR - Legislative Update:  Last week, the Transportation Security Administration ("TSA") confirmed, contrary to claims made by illegal alien lobby organizations, that it will allow illegal aliens to board commercial airlines by presenting an Oregon driver's privilege card. (Politifact Oregon Oct. 7, 2014) Oregon's driving privilege cards will be given to illegal aliens, or any applicant who cannot prove that he or she has lawful presence in the United States, and is set for considered by Oregon voters on November 4th under Ballot Measure 88. (Id.)

The controversy arose when Lars Larson, a talk show radio host based in Portland, made public letters he received from TSA stating the agency would accept Oregon's driver's privilege card for identification at the airport. (Id.) This admission is important because the language that appears on the ballot for Measure 88, referred to as its ballot title, says: "The driver card may not be used as identification for air travel, to enter a federal building, to register to vote or to obtain any government benefit requiring proof of citizenship or lawful presence in United States." (Measure 88) Causa Oregon, a local illegal alien lobbying group, insists on this point. (Politifact Oregon, Oct. 7, 2014) "Ballot Measure 88 clearly states that it will be issued only to grant driving privileges, and prohibits use of the driver cards for anything other than the listed purposes," said spokesman Erik Sorensen in an email to Politifact Oregon. (Id.)

Politifact Oregon contacted TSA to investigate Lars Larson's claims. (Id.) Nico Melendez, a Western Region TSA spokesman in California, responded, "State-issued driver cards would be acceptable forms of identification for our document-checkers at the airport. At this point, the understanding is that a card like this would be an acceptable form of identification." (Id.) He further commented, "What we are doing is verifying that the person who shows the card is the person who is traveling. It's not an immigration check." (Id.)

TSA's admittance that it will accept illegal aliens' driving privilege cards as a valid form of identification to board an aircraft is especially disturbing considering rece nt national security threats.Unlike legal immigrants, illegal aliens are not subject to stringent background checks or face-to-face interviews to determine the existence of any public safety or national security threat they might pose. Illegal aliens usually do not have valid U.S. identification or work authorization documents. Therefore, they depend on foreign or forged documents to travel on commercial airlines.

Although REAL ID Act was passed to solve this problem, it has yet to be implemented by the federal government. The REAL ID Act was passed in 2005 in response to the terrorist attacks to the United States on September 11, 2001 when the 9/11 Commission found that the 19 terrorists involved in the attack carried among them over 30 state driver's licenses and identification cards. (9/11 Commission Report) The Act prohibits federal agencies from accepting driving privilege cards issued to illegal aliens for federal identification purposes. (REAL ID ACT of 2005) The Obama administration repeatedly pushed back implementation of REAL ID, and currently purports its implementation deadline for these provisions to be January 2016. (Department of Homeland Security FAQ on REAL ID) Read more about TSA Will Accept Illegal Aliens Driver's Privilege Card as ID to Board Aircrafts

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — An upscale hotel chain has agreed to pay about $2 million to settle allegations that 43 Utah employees working in the country illegally had returned to work after they were flagged by an immigration audit and fired, according to federal authorities...

...43 workers returned to their jobs within days using false names and documents...

The employees were hired before the hotel used the federal E-Verify system to check the eligibility of its workers, authorities said.

The U.S. attorney's office said that while the hotel and its executives helped investigators, the hotel is paying a fine because the employees involved in the scheme were acting on the hotel's behalf.

The hotel chain will pay nearly $2 million to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and spend another $500,000 to adopt new hiring policies, such as retraining corporate lawyers on immigration practices and retooling labor contracts.

"All industries, regardless of size, location and type are expected to comply with the law," said Kumar Kibble, a Denver-based Homeland Security agent overseeing Utah investigations. "As this significant settlement demonstrates, there are real consequences for businesses that employ an illegal workforce."

  Read more about Utah hotel settles case with immigration officials

The current ongoing immigration surge, call it an invasion, across the United States of America’s border with Mexico by persons who have illegally entered the country is really old news revisited to those who have been victimized of foreign national criminals in Oregon.

An unpublished July 1, 2014 report from the Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) indicated there were 1,099 foreign nationals (criminal aliens) incarcerated in the state’s prison system...

What follows is a list of 15 Oregon counties whose County Circuit Courts adjudicated cases that sent the most criminal aliens (95.4 percent) to serve time in DOC prisons:

- 267 Multnomah, 24.3 percent of alien prisoners;
- 264 Marion, 24.0 percent of alien prisoners;
- 186 Washington, 16.9 percent of alien prisoners;
- 76 Clackamas, 6.9 percent of alien prisoners;
- 57 Lane, 5.2 percent of alien prisoners...

The types of crimes, the level of violence, being committed by aliens who have illegally entered the country against the state’s residents are the type crimes one might read about in an international newspaper or view on a television news program covering Mexico or third-world counties located in Central and South America or the Caribbean.

Here is how the 1,099 criminal aliens currently in the DOC prison population violently, brutally and mercilessly victimized the residents of this state:

- 199 sex abuses, 18.1 percent of alien crimes;
- 172 rapes, 15.6 percent of alien crimes;
- 161 drugs, 14.6 percent of alien crimes;
- 145 homicides, 13.2 percent of alien crimes;
- 103 assaults, 9.4 percent of alien crimes;
- 93 sodomies, 8.5 percent of alien crimes;
- 68 robberies, 6.2 percent of alien crimes;
- 44 kidnappings, 4.0 percent of alien crimes...

Focusing on the Americas and Caribbean, 976 of the 1,099 criminal aliens (88.8 percent) in the DOC prison system self-declared their citizenship from the following nations:

- 884 Mexico, 80.4 percent of prisoners;
- 34 Guatemala, 3.1 percent of prisoners;
- 15 El Salvador, 1.4 percent of prisoners;
- 11 Honduras, 1.0 percent of prisoners;
- 11 Cuba, 1.0 percent of prisoners...

Another element of foreign national crime that has affected the residents of this state is the cost to incarcerate criminal aliens in the state’s prisons; 1,099 alien prisoners cost the state’s taxpayers $34,930,835.80 per year.

Unfortunately for Oregonians, this seemingly unchecked wave of foreign national crime and violence has gone on in the state under watch of recalcitrant Washington D.C. politicians like Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden along with Representatives Earl Blumenauer, Suzanne Bonamici, Kurt Schrader, Peter DeFazio and Greg Walden; politicians whose political parties during their elected tenure in office at one time controlled all three elected branches of government (The Presidency, The Senate and The House of Representatives).

These congressional representatives have done nothing legislatively that has been passed and signed into law by President Barack Obama to stop the invasion of criminal aliens preying on the residents of this state.

With leadership comes responsibility, they as a collective group of law makers, it would be fair to say, have the blood of those victimized by alien criminals on their hands.

Oregon’s registered voters during Oregon’s November 4, 2014 General Election will have a chance to replace six of the seven politicians who have failed to protect citizens and resident aliens from the invasion of foreign national criminals, only Senator Wyden is immune from the voters’ wrath during this election cycle.

Along with the possibility of replacing their congressional representation, voters in the state will also have the unique opportunity in the fall to show their members of congress leadership on immigration legislation by voting “No” on Measure 88; legislation that would grant Driver Cards for those who cannot prove legal presence in the United States; legislation if it were to pass that could send a new wave of foreign national criminals into the state.

David Olen Cross of Salem writes on immigration issues and foreign national crime. He can be reached at docfnc@yahoo.com. Read more about Oregonians are affected by criminal invasion

Omar Martinez Rodriguez showed such little sophistication in drug trafficking that he stuffed 22 pounds of methamphetamine worth close to $1 million into two coolers for the road trip from California to Oregon, his lawyers said.

...Martinez Rodriguez was just a bit player – a courier, not a kingpin.

...sentencing him to more than 17 years in prison. The federal judge said he believed Martinez Rodriguez was planning to sell the meth – some 40,000 doses worth, according to prosecutors.

"You didn't have a chance to capitalize on it, and that's the only thing that saved you from being even more involved as a distributor," Jones said in U.S. District Court in Portland. He noted Martinez Rodriguez' previous assault convictions as well as the undocumented immigrant's illegal re-entry to the United States just months before his September 2013 arrest. "It sounds like you didn't learn anything from going to prison," he said.

Martinez Rodriguez must also serve five years of supervised release, and if he is deported must first get approval from governmental agencies before he may return to the United States.

Martinez Rodriguez was targeted in an investigation, and an informant made arrangements to buy meth from him, according to the government's sentencing memorandum. Authorities learned that his phone was in California, and they began following him after he entered Oregon.

Police conducted a traffic stop around Salem and found the drugs in the coolers ...

  Read more about Transport of nearly $1 million worth of meth lands Canby man 17+ years in prison

Summary: Two suspects arrested last December after allegedly using counterfeit credit cards in Washington County and other locations have been convicted and sentenced in U.S. District Court in Portland....

Sentence: Zhao and Zou were each sentenced to six months in federal custody, followed by three years of supervised release. Zhao was ordered to pay restitution of $12,211.67 and a special assessment fee of $100. Zou was ordered to pay restitution in an amount yet to be determined and a special assessment fee of $100.

NOTE:  Both suspects have ICE holds

  Read more about Two men admit using counterfeit credit cards in Washington County, Portland