[CitizensTruth] "Paying Taxes & Fearing Deportation"

[Jay Becker]

This should really be titled "Paying Taxes and Fearing Federal Prosecution and Prison," since the Feds are following the Postville (IA) model here--prosecuting immigrants without papers on federal criminal charges for what has been treated as a civil immigration status violation for decades. Note that this article says these immigrants paid $50 billion in taxes between 1996 & 2003.

Jay

Paying Taxes and Fearing Deportation 
By DAN FROSCH
New York Times 
Published: February 1, 2009 
  

GREELEY , Colo. — For the past decade, thousands of Hispanic men and
women who settled here went to Amalia’s Translation and Tax Services to
pay their annual income taxes.  
Whether
these people were in the United States legally mattered little to
Amalia Cerrillo, who runs the business out of her home in this northern
Colorado farming town. The Internal Revenue Service, Ms. Cerrillo knew,
requires everyone, regardless of immigration status, to pay taxes on
income earned in this country. 
  
“My
clients wanted to do what any other American does,” Ms. Cerrillo said.
“And they wanted to show that they paid their taxes if there is ever a
chance for amnesty or a green card.”  
  
That
all changed Oct. 17, when investigators with the Weld County Sheriff’s
Office, armed with a search warrant, seized thousands of confidential
tax returns from Ms. Cerrillo’s business. They told her they were
looking for people with fraudulent Social Security numbers, commonly
used by illegal immigrants to get work.  
  
The
seizure of the tax returns was the first step in a broad, continuing
investigation, called Operation Number Games by local law enforcement
officials. Sheriff John Cooke said his investigators had identified
about 1,300 illegal immigrants who had filed tax returns bearing fake
or stolen Social Security numbers. Many will face deportation
proceedings.  
  
Since
October, 40 people have been arrested on identity theft or criminal
impersonation charges. Sixty-five additional arrest warrants have been
issued, and District Attorney Ken Buck said many more would be coming.  
  
“I
don’t care whether they are meth addicts or petty thieves or illegal
immigrants,” Mr. Buck said. “What matters most to me is that they are
committing felonies through identify theft.”  
  
The
campaign is causing concern at the I.R.S., which says illegal
immigrants paid almost $50 billion in taxes from 1996 to 2003, and
among immigrants’ rights groups, which call the operation a thinly
disguised attempt to root out illegal immigrants.  
  
“For
years, they said immigrants don’t pay taxes and are a burden on our
system,” said Julie Gonzales, the political coordinator for the
Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition. 
  
Late
last Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado filed a
lawsuit in State District Court here arguing that by seizing and
retaining confidential tax information, the Weld County authorities had
violated privacy rights of thousands of taxpayers.  
  
“If
the sheriff and the D.A. can comb through thousands of records in a tax
preparer’s office on the theory that some of their clients are doing
something wrong, then none of our confidential information is safe,”
said Mark Silverstein, the legal director for the group. 
  
Mr. Buck said all information from the investigation would be kept confidential. 
  
Both
sides agree that the issue has exposed a hole in federal immigration
policy. Since 1996, the I.R.S. has distributed about 15 million
Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers to enable people without
Social Security numbers to pay taxes. Many illegal immigrants also buy
fake or stolen Social Security numbers on the black market to show to
potential employers.  
  
While
not commenting specifically about the Colorado operation, an I.R.S.
spokesman, Frank Keith, said, “We are concerned when information
provided by taxpayers to meet their legal tax obligations is used for
purposes other than federal tax administration.”  
  
Sheriff Cooke said the federal policy was tantamount to “the government turning its back on victims of identity theft.”  
  
If
a stolen or false Social Security number is used only to get work,
“there is no negative impact on the rightful owner,” said a Social
Security Administration spokesman, Mark Hinkle; but it can wreak
financial havoc if used to gain access to bank accounts or to obtain
credit cards.  
  
Sheriff Cooke said the Greeley
investigation began last August when a Texas man contacted the
authorities here and said he had been notified by the Social Security
Administration that someone was using his Social Security number in
Weld County .  
  
Investigators
traced the number to Servando Trejo, who according to a search warrant
told them he was in the United States illegally and had bought the
number. Mr. Trejo said he paid income taxes through Ms. Cerrillo’s
office, the warrant said.  
  
Ms. Cerrillo is not facing charges. 
  
Sheriff Cooke blames the I.R.S. “They know the Social Security numbers are stolen,” he said, “and they choose to ignore it.”  
  
Some
illegal immigrants hope that the payment of taxes in compliance with
federal laws will benefit them if and when Congress addresses the
immigration issue. But Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the
National Immigration Law Center in Los Angeles
, said the crackdown had put illegal immigrants in a bind: if they pay
their taxes, they risk exposure to immigration authorities.  
  
“It
cuts at the bedrock of confidentiality of tax law, whose central tenet
is that people come forward and report their income,” Ms. Hincapié
said.  
  
The
investigation has had a chilling impact on immigrants in Greeley,
advocates say. A man who asked to be identified only as Jose because he
is in the country illegally said he had filed taxes with the dream of
one day becoming a citizen.  
  
Jose
said that he was arrested late last year for using a false Social
Security number he bought in Denver and that he now faces prison and
deportation.  
  
“You
try and do the right thing,” Jose said of paying taxes, “and it seems
they’re using it as an excuse to take people out of the country.”  
  
Mr.
Buck, though, said the cases stemming from the inquiry are about
identity theft, not immigration. District attorneys in the Southwest,
he said, have called to ask about his tactics.  
  
“Am I apologetic for spreading fear amongst people committing felonies?” Mr. Buck said. “No.” 


    Stop thinking like an American, 
Start thinking about humanity!



      
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