solved Immigration PromptFor this essay, I will need to write in

Immigration PromptFor this essay, I will need to write in first person about your family history. Although this is a personal essay, it does require some research. As with myself, I assume, like most Americans, that many of you have more nationalities than just one. I am asking you to choose one nationality and discuss the wave of that culture’s migration to the US in one paragraph. What were the causes that brought this culture to the United States? In another paragraph, I am interested in what struggles this culture had to face once they got to the U.S. In the third body paragraph, I would like you to address an aspect of illegal immigration today; finally, in the fourth paragraph, you will need to address whether or not you agree with making immigration illegal and why; lastly, you need a conclusion (you will need six paragraphs total). Furthermore, if you are full or part Native American, you can write about the history of your tribe in paragraph one, and in the second paragraph, you can write about what struggles this tribe faced in terms of American expansion. If you are African American, and you know that your family came to the United States through slavery, you can write about what brought African Americans to the United States during the slave years or what tribe your family may have or did originate from; in paragraph two you can address what was life like for a slave in America. If you are an international student or first wave immigrant, you can discuss what brought you to the United States and what cultural hurdles have you faced once here.You are allowed to use your family history for this essay; you can write about your relatives, interview them, and even use photographs (however, photographs are optional). I am asking you to use four sources (hard copy or from the library unless approved), and an optional interview. Lastly, this paper must utilize MLA format, and it needs to come out to a minimum of four full pages (not including works cited).Illegal but not Undocumented: Ronald MortensenundefinedMisconceptionsundefinedThat Illegal Aliens Are UndocumentedundefinedWilliam Riley, Former ICE Agent, Explains Identity Theft:undefinedView the Full InterviewundefinedWhen Jean Pierre from Montreal crosses the border into the United States illegally, he lacks the documents to obtain employment and other benefits that legal residents of the United States are entitled to. When Maggie from Dublin and Raj from India overstay their tourist visas in order to work in the United States, they find themselves in the same situation.undefinedBecause it is virtually impossible to live and work in the United States without documents, they and millions of others turn to fraudulent document dealers for falsified Social Security cards, forged drivers licenses, counterfeit green cards, and a wide range of other phony documents.undefinedAccording to Richard Hamp of the Utah Attorney General’s Office, illegal aliens rarely steal Americans’ total identities (a victim’s full name, date of birth, and SSN) simply because doing so is more difficult and expensive. Instead, illegal aliens commit SSN-only identity theft by obtaining fraudulent Social Security cards in their own names, often with random numbers made up by dealers. However, since about half of all SSNs have been issued, there is a 50-50 chance that the SSN already belongs to another person. And even if the number hasn’t been issued, the Social Security Administration may later assign it to an infant, thereby giving a newborn an instant credit history, arrest record, and liability for back taxes.undefinedThat Illegal Aliens Are Law-AbidingundefinedIllegal aliens who commit document fraud, use SSNs that do not belong to them, and falsify I-9 forms under penalty of perjury clearly are not ordinary law-abiding residents. They may be arrested and prosecuted for felony document fraud and perjury and in, certain states, they may be prosecuted for felony identity theft or felony identity fraud.undefinedSo, while simply living in the country without authorization is usually a civil offense, a large number of illegal aliens rapidly take the next step and commit serious felonies in order to obtain jobs and other benefits reserved for American citizens and legal residents.undefinedIdentity Theft Defined. The non-profit Identity Theft Resource Center defines identity theft as “a crime in which an impostor obtains key pieces of personal identifying information (PII) such as SSNs and drivers license numbers and uses them for their own personal gain.” According the Federal Trade Commission, “Identity theft occurs when someone uses your personally identifying information, like your name, SSN, or credit card number, without your permission, to commit fraud or other crimes…. They may get a job using your Social Security number.”1undefinedTherefore, the use of an SSN belonging to someone else, whether knowingly or unknowing, is clearly identity theft according to these definitions. In addition, the victims of illegal alien SSN identity theft suffer clear and extremely serious harm.undefinedIn spite of this, under federal and many state statutes, a person using someone else’s SSN or other personal information must “knowingly” do so in order to be convicted of felony identity theft. The United States Supreme Court has ruled that prosecutors must prove that an illegal alien is knowingly using another person’s SSN in order to convict the illegal alien of identity theft under the federal statute, thereby, leaving the victims of these serious and often devastating crimes unprotected.undefinedAt the state level, Utah faced the problem of defense attorneys claiming that their illegal alien clients should get off because they were not knowingly using the SSNs of Utah children. Therefore, in 2006, in order to protect all American citizens and legal residents including tens of thousands of children, Utah’s identity fraud statute was amended to clearly state that it is not a defense to argue “that the person did not know that the personal information belonged to another person.”undefinedFollowing the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, County Attorneys in Arizona expressed confidence that that state’s felony identity theft statute would withstand challenge and called on Congress to revise federal statutes to hold illegal aliens committing identity theft liable for their actions.2 Prosecutors in Kansas said that they would press legislators to revise identity theft statutes and it is anticipated that other states around the nation also will amend their statutes in order to protect their citizens from illegal alien-driven identity theft.3undefinedThe Relationship Between Identity Theft and Illegal Immigration. U.S. law enforcement agencies have observed that identity theft and immigration “go hand in hand.”4 In Weld County, Colo., which has large numbers of illegal aliens employed in the meat packing industry, District Attorney Ken Buck reports that the principal driver of identity theft is job related5undefinedIdentity theft is one of the fastest-growing crimes in the United States and impacts millions of American citizens and legal residents each year, though actual numbers are difficult to determine because most governments and police departments don’t track identity theft. Even the Federal Trade Commission, which is the lead agency for reporting identity theft, only captures a small number of actual identity theft cases.undefinedBut we know that illegal aliens routinely use fraudulent SSNs belonging to American citizens and legal residents. In a 2002 report to Congress, the General Accounting Office stated: “INS has reported that large-scale counterfeiting has made fraudulent employment eligibility documents (e.g., Social Security cards) widely available.”6 The Social Security Administration assumes that roughly three-quarters of illegal aliens are paying payroll taxes through withholding, which generally requires an SSN.7undefinedFor example, an immigration raid at an Agriprocessors, Inc., meat processing plant in Pottsville, Iowa, last year found that 76 percent of the plant’s employees had bogus SSNs.8 And during an April 2008 raid at Pilgrim’s Pride meat packing plants, more than 280 employees at facilities in five states were arrested on suspicion of committing identity theft and other criminal violations in order to obtain jobs.9 According to press reports, ICE agents said their investigation of Pilgrim’s Pride started when the victims of identity theft came forward after having problems with taxes and credit reports.10undefinedIllegal aliens’ fraudulent document use was further confirmed by Domingo Garcia, General Counsel for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), who, according to press reports, said that it was well known that around 80 percent of the workers at Pilgrim’s Pride had fake identification.11undefinedSo its no surprise that Table 1 shows that states with the highest percentage illegal aliens in their total populations tend to have the highest incidence of overall identity theft, including significant levels of employment-related identity theft.undefinedOf the 10 states with the highest incidence of identity theft, eight are among the 10 states where illegal aliens account for the largest percentages of total population. The two remaining top-10 identity theft states are ranked 13 and 17 in terms of percentage of illegal aliens.undefinedIn 2008, 15 percent of all identity theft in the United States was employment-related, up from 14 percent in 2007.12Six of the 10 states with the highest identity theft have employment-related identity theft rates that exceed the national average. In Arizona, where substantive illegal immigration-related legislation was passed and where employment verification is now required, employment-related identity theft dropped significantly, from 39 to 33 percent of all identity theft cases. In Colorado, employment-related identity theft increased from 17 to 22 percent between 2007 and 2008. In New Mexico, the increase was from 19 to 23 percent; in Texas, from 24 to 27 percent; and in California, from 17 to 20 percent.undefinedICE Efforts Are Improving. ICE is the lead agency addressing immigration-related document fraud and identity theft. In 2006, the agency established the Document and Benefits Fraud Task Forces (DBFTF), which are now in place in 17 ICE field offices. Their mission is to investigate and dismantle criminal organizations that make, sell, and distribute identity documents to circumvent immigration laws or for any other criminal purpose and to seize their equipment and assets. For example, ICE agents in Denver, assisted by other field offices and federal agencies, took down the notorious Castorena family organization. The family ran a massive nationwide network of fake document rings, producing papers such as green cards, Social Security cards, drivers licenses, and other types of documents. Their franchises reached all 50 states.undefinedThe work of the DBFTFs intersects with other agency work, including counter-terrorism investigations and worksite operations. Many of ICE’s recent worksite enforcement operations have been launched as a result of information or activity uncovered by the DBFTFs. The 2006 operation conducted against the Swift & Company meat processing business, which resulted in the arrest of nearly 1,300 illegal aliens, was launched after ICE agents discovered hundreds of victims of identity theft from illegal workers at the Swift plants.undefinedWhile ICE has recently been able to increase its efforts in this area, the agency has limited resources that are stretched across multiple priorities. In 2007, ICE worked 5,080 identity and/or benefit fraud cases, generating hundreds of indictments, arrests, and convictions.13 However, this represented only 7 percent of ICE’s total case load, reflecting the reality that violent criminals and drug smuggling are a more pressing investigative priority for ICE. Further, the DBFTFs must focus their efforts on dismantling large criminal enterprises. They do not have the resources or personnel to investigate every individual alien identity thief. As with other kinds of criminal activity, it is up to state and local law enforcement agencies to identify and address what is happening in their jurisdiction, and be the prosecutors of first resort.undefinedThat Illegal Imigration Is a Victimless CrimeundefinedIllegal alien-driven identity theft is not a victimless crime. It impacts millions of Americans of all ages. Newborn infants and children often are the victims of illegal alien identity thieves. IRS agents, law enforcement officials, people with disabilities, the unemployed, and even those serving time in jail have been victimized by illegal aliens using their SSNs in order to obtain jobs and other benefits. According to the Wall Street Journal, American citizens with Hispanic surnames are 1.5 times more likely to be victims of job-related identity theft than are other Americans.14undefinedFollowing the Swift meat packing raids, Department of Homeland Secretary, Michael Chertoff told reporters that:undefinedAnybody who has ever been a victim of identity theft understands the hardship, and, in fact, the persistent hardship, that follows from this kind of crime, and the hardship that is felt by innocent people.undefinedNow, this is not only a case about illegal immigration, which is bad enough. It’s a case about identity theft in violation of the privacy rights and the economic rights of innocent Americans…. These individuals suffered very real consequences in their lives. These were not victimless crimes. 15undefinedThus, when illegal aliens use SSNs or other documents belonging to American citizens and legal residents, the damage can be substantial. The true owners risk being saddled with the illegal aliens’ credit, arrest, and medical records. Victims may be denied jobs, unemployment insurance, Social Security payments, and Medicaid benefits. It costs victims hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars to undo the damage and recover their names and lives.undefinedIn addition, all Americans are impacted by the fallout from illegal alien-driven document fraud and identity theft. Rather than spending their earnings in the United States and helping fuel the consumer-driven American economy, illegal workers minimize their expenditures in the United States so they can send billions of dollars back to their home countries. During a recessionary period, this transfer makes it all the more difficult to turn the economy around.undefinedWhen the economy hits hard times and Americans and legal residents lose their jobs, illegal aliens can continue to work using their stolen identities and fraudulent documents. If an illegal alien who is laid off uses his fraudulent documents to obtain unemployment benefits, this drives up the cost of unemployment insurance. If an illegal alien is using an American’s SSN to obtain unemployment benefits, that citizen will be denied benefits that he or she is legally entitled to.undefinedChildren Are Prime Targets. Children do not use their SSNs for employment or to obtain credit so parents generally do not check their children’s credit histories, allowing a person using a child’s SSN to go undetected for years. Sometimes document vendors sell fraudulent identity packages using unassigned SSNs that are later assigned to a child, causing them problems before they are even born.undefined“We have a major problem with workers in medical offices stealing patients’ identities, selling them, and making a direct profit,” according to Sergeant James Bracke of the Phoenix Police Department.16 The stolen numbers are sold to immigrant smuggling groups who use them to fabricate fraudulent documents for people they bring into the United States via Arizona. The result of this is that in Arizona, child identity theft is nearly four times the national rate and an estimated 1.1 million Arizona children have had their identities stolen.117undefinedState and local investigators in Utah uncovered a crime spree involving illegal aliens using the SSNs of tens of thousands of children. They identified 1,626 companies paying wages to the SSNs of children on public assistance under the age of 13.18 One child’s SSN was being used by 37 adults.undefinedIllegal aliens used the Utah children’s SSNs to get jobs, start businesses, and open bank accounts. One suspect told investigators he paid $100 for a boy’s SSN. Victims included a five-year-old girl who supposedly traveled 80 miles to her job at a steak restaurant, an eight-year-old boy who apparently owned a cleaning company and worked as a prep cook at two upscale restaurants, and an 11-year-old boy who supposedly worked for an express air freight company. The suspects were charged with third degree felony counts of identity fraud and forgery.19undefinedEmployment-related identity theft is the largest single driver (27 percent) of identity theft in the state of Texas. Almost 900,000 people became victims of identity theft in Texas in 2007. The cost to Texas victims was an estimated $435.7 million and Texas residents spent an estimated total of 3.5 million hours resolving identity theft issues.20undefinedThe link between illegal aliens and identity theft was further confirmed by the Social Security Administration’s Special Agent in Charge in Salt Lake City. As reported in the May 3, 2006, Salt Lake Tribune:undefinedAccording to Ronald Ingleby, Special Agent in Charge of the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General in Utah, real Social Security numbers and accounts are being created, or purloined, by undocumented workers to circumvent employers’ efforts to certify their legality….Ninety-eight percent of Social Security-related ID theft cases involve people who use their own names but use someone else’s Social Security number. Two percent involve perpetrators using the numbers to assume their victims’ identities…. 21undefinedIdentity Theft Victims Suffer Real Consequences. Victims of identity theft suffer real consequences. The victims of workers at the Swift packing plants included an individual in Texas whose personal information was being used by an illegal alien for employment. The victim was pulled over and arrested because the illegal alien had used his identity to conduct criminal activity.22undefinedIn Utah, the staff of the state’s Workforce Services office has seen children denied Medicaid benefits because adults were using their SSNs. Based on information developed by Workforce Services, Utah Attorney General, Mark Shurtleff warned the public about the devastating impact that illegal alien identity theft has on children when he said:undefinedIdentity thieves are no respecters of age. They will steal your children’s ID, ruin their credit, and hurt them in ways never thought possible before they can graduate from grade school. Children are vulnerable even if parents do everything right.23undefinedIn Illinois, an American citizen was denied a job at a Target store because one of 37 people who were using her SSN was already employed by the company. According to MSNBC, “The woman found herself in a financial nightmare. All those imitators made a mess out of her work history, her Social Security records, and her credit report. She was haunted by bills and creditors. She received threatening letters from the IRS, asking her to pay taxes on money earned by imposters. She was told to re-pay unemployment benefits she had received, after the government discovered she was ‘working’ while drawing benefits.”24undefinedA man whose SSN was used to obtain employment in at least three states was told by the IRS that he owed $64,000 in unpaid taxes in spite of the fact that he had been incarcerated in a state penitentiary during the time the income was earned.25undefinedA nursing home resident nearly lost his disability benefits because a worker at a Pilgrim’s Pride meat plant was using his identity and it appeared that the disabled patient was working.26 An Air Force veteran was arrested on a warrant for unpaid parking tickets incurred by an illegal alien using his identity. He was only released after paying a $340 fine for tickets that he did not incur. He continued to receive demands for the payment of outstanding taxes on income that he had not earned and he saw his credit rating destroyed.27undefinedThese stories are just the tip of the iceberg. Millions of Americans either knowingly or unknowingly are sharing their SSNs with illegal aliens and are having their lives slowly usurped by the identity thieves. They will only learn of the damage done when they are denied credit, receive a notice for taxes on income they didn’t earn, are denied benefits that they are entitled to, find that their medical records have been corrupted with possibly life-threatening consequences, or when collection agencies start calling.undefinedA Culture of CorruptionundefinedEven those American citizens or legal residents whose identities are not stolen by an illegal alien still suffer the consequences of rampant document fraud and identity theft.undefinedOne of the key elements of a free and democratic society is respect for the rule of law by both the government and individuals. However, in most illegal aliens’ homelands, the rule of law is routinely disregarded and official corruption is a serious problem.undefinedTransparency International’s Corruption Prevention Index (CPI) ranks 180 countries by their perceived levels of corruption. CPI scores range between 10 (highly clean) and 0 (highly corrupt). The average score for the 10 countries that account for the vast majority of illegal aliens in the United States is 3.43, indicating a serious level of corruption (see Table 2).undefinedIn contrast, the least corrupt countries in the world are Denmark, New Zealand, and Sweden, with scores of 9.3. Canada, which has 67,000 illegal aliens in the United States, comes in at 8.7, and the United States’ score is 7.3, or 18th in the world. The United States’ score is one of the lowest scores among the industrialized nations and it has gone down in the past few years.undefinedAs Transparency International points out, “People are as corrupt as the system allows them to be. It is where temptation meets permissiveness that corruption takes root on a wide scale.”28 Thus, under a permissive U.S. system that fails to control the nation’s borders, that allows a fraudulent document market to flourish, that allows employers turn a blind eye to the legal status of their workers, and where civic, religious, and political leaders support felons over victims, it is not surprising that illegal aliens without a pre-existing allegiance to the rule of law see nothing wrong with using fraudulent documents to obtain jobs and benefits that they are not entitled to.undefinedThose sworn to uphold the law also contribute to the permissiveness that leads to corruption and a weakening of the rule of law. When a human trafficking bill was being debated in the Utah House of Representatives, an attorney and former judge amended the bill to allow farmers to transport illegal aliens up to 100 miles without being charged with trafficking.29 Utah’s Attorney General told illegal aliens present at a massive rally for illegal alien rights that “Many of my fellow Republicans will criticize me for being here. They’ll tell me instead of speaking to you, that as the chief law enforcement of Utah I should be arresting you. [That’s] not going to happen.”30 In some cities, sanctuary policies prohibit law enforcement officials from questioning aliens about their immigration status or from contacting or assisting ICE.undefinedThis culture of corruption is reinforced when illegal aliens are offered special benefits such as in-state tuition, drivers licenses, financial services, and religious offices and privileges in spite of their multiple, ongoing violations of civil and criminal law. The increasing acceptance of corruption has a debilitating effect on the overall respect for the rule of law with the result that illegal aliens become involved in a wide range of other criminal activities including tax fraud; mortgage fraud; violation of drivers license, insurance, and traffic laws; and gang membership.undefinedTax CorruptionundefinedIllegal aliens and their employers are frequently involved in tax fraud. This results in lower revenues for governments at all levels and higher taxes for American citizens and legal residents. Some illegal aliens work “off the books” and thus pay no income taxes on earned income, while their employers avoid payroll taxes.undefinedMany illegal aliens use a combination of Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN) and fraudulent SSNs to obtain tax refunds that they are not entitled to. For example, in Weld County, Colo., law enforcement officials uncovered tax fraud that involved 1,300 illegal immigrants using fraudulent SSNs to obtain more than $2.6 million in tax refunds.31 Treasury Department auditors have noted disapprovingly that the IRS allows illegal aliens filing returns with ITINs to obtain millions of dollars in credits and deductions to which they are not entitled as non-permanent aliens.32undefinedIn spite of this, the IRS has distributed about 15 million ITINs since 1996, with a large share believed to be assigned to illegal aliens.33 As reported by The New York Times,undefinedIn the Queens center, Ana Andrade, 32, from Mexico….presented a W-2 form that showed withholding of more than $3,000 from the $24,000 she had earned as a cook in a Manhattan restaurant, at $10 an hour. Like more than seven million such W-2 forms nationwide, hers bore a false Social Security number.undefinedNo problem, the senior tax specialist explained. Her return would be filed under her ITIN, with the problematic W-2 form, and the IRS would simply credit her wages to her ITIN. The result: a $2,000 refund, based mainly on child credits for her two American-born children.34undefinedFinancial CorruptionundefinedAmerica’s leading financial institutions accept foreign identity documents as well as ITINs that are only supposed to be used for the payment of taxes. Some banks and credit unions facilitate money transfers to foreign countries by illegal aliens. They design financial products specifically for illegal aliens, including credit cards. Some have set up special banking units to serve illegal aliens’ special needs and they actively solicit the business of illegal aliens.undefinedFinancial institutions also issue risky mortgages and loans to illegal aliens who are not authorized to work and who are subject to arrest and/or removal at any time, which can lead to a default on their mortgages or loans. In Denver, for example, fraudulent documents were used by illegal aliens to get Federal Housing Administration-backed loans and in one case the counterfeit documents were used to purchase 300 homes valued at $51 million. The FHA insurance fund lost millions of dollars.35undefinedEconomic CorruptionundefinedIllegal aliens working with stolen identities and fraudulent documents transfer billions of dollars to foreign nations that would otherwise have been spent and invested in the United States. In October 2008, at a time the United States economy was reeling from an unprecedented financial crisis and a sharp drop in consumer spending, remittances to Mexico rose to $2.4 billion, a 13 percent jump from $2.2 billion in remittances in October 2007. If this were to continue at the same level for the entire year, the amount of remittances ($28.8 billion) just to Mexico would exceed the total amount initially requested to bail out the three major American automakers.36undefinedDuring a time of recession, illegal aliens using fraudulent documents may continue to be employed while American citizens and legal residents doing many of the same jobs are let go. When this occurs, the illegal aliens are, in fact, doing jobs that Americans are more than willing to do. In addition, the illegal aliens continue to transfer a significant portion of their earnings out of the country rather spending them in the United States in order to help the economy recover from recession.undefinedAccording to a study by the Pew Hispanic Center, the unemployment rate for native-born Hispanics was 9.6 percent in the third quarter of 2008. The rate for immigrant Hispanics, when adjusted for individuals dropping out of the workforce, was 7.8 percent. Wage losses for native-born Hispanics were actually larger than those for foreign-born Latinos. From the third quarter 2007 to the third quarter 2008, employment of Latinos in the construction industry declined by 5.3 percent while employment of non-Latinos decreased by 5.9 percent. Long-term trends show that the differences between Hispanic and non-Hispanic participation in the labor force remained relatively stable. Thus, while recent statistics show that unemployment rates have grown among immigrants,37 it does