Illlegals could get bypass on identity theft
by DNN Weekend Staff
DNN Reports!
Saturday, Feb. 28, 2009
The Supreme court appeared poised yesterday to rule that illegal aliens who use phony Social Security numbers to get work should not be considered identity thieves, even if those numbers belong to real people.
The court seemed likely to reject the government's argument that under a 2004 law that metes out a mandatory two-year prison term for "aggravated identity theft," prosecutors do not have to offer any proof that a defendant knew the identification belonged to someone else and was simply not made up.
Should someone get two extra years in prison "if it just so happens that the number you picked out of the air belongs to someone else?" Chief Justice John Roberts asked Justice Department lawyer Tobey Heytens.
The justice was joined by his conservative and liberal colleagues in signaling they have problems with the government's use of the law against defendants who were unaware they were invading the privacy of real people.
Kevin Russell, a Washington lawyer arguing on behalf of the illegal alien worker from Mexico, said there is no question that his client committed a crime by using false documents.
But Russell said when Congress passed its 2004 law, it intended to toughen identity thieves who use information to steal.
Illegal aliens commonly buy ID cards from forger without any intention on invading someone elses privacy, he said. The government has used identity theft charge to persuade people seized in raids to plead guilty to lesser immigration charges and accept prompt deportation.
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