Social Security: Migrants Offer Numbers for Fee
Articles
Mr. Luviano, 39, obtained legal residence in the United States almost 20 years ago. But these days, back in Mexico, teaching beekeeping at the local high school in this hot, dusty town in the southwestern part of the country, Mr. Luviano is not using his Social Security number. So he is looking for an illegal immigrant in the United States to use it for him - providing a little cash along the way.
Spurred by the chance to make extra money, Gerardo Luviano lent his Social Security number to his brother's friend. "I kept almost all the income tax refund," he said....
Virtually undetected by American authorities, operating below the radar in immigrant [illegal alien] communities from coast to coast, a secondary trade in identities has emerged straddling both sides of the Mexico-United States border....
Hundreds of thousands of immigrants [illegal aliens] who cross the border from Mexico illegally each year need to procure a legal identity that will allow them to work in the United States. Many legal immigrants, whether living in the United States or back in Mexico, are happy to provide them: as they pad their earnings by letting illegal immigrants work under their name and number, they also enhance their own unemployment and pension benefits. And sometimes they charge for the favor...
These days, most immigrants working unlawfully [illegal aliens] buy a document combo for $100 to $200 that includes a fake green card and fake Social Security card with a nine-digit number plucked out of thin air. "They'll make it for you right there at the flea market," said David Blanco, an illegal immigrant from Costa Rica who works as an auto mechanic in Stockton, Calif.
This process has one big drawback, however. Each year, Social Security receives millions of W-2 earning statements with names or numbers that do not match its records. Nine million poured in for 2002, many of them just simple mistakes. In response the agency sends hundreds of thousands of letters asking employers to correct the information. These letters can provoke the firing of the offending worker.
Working with a name linked to a number recognized by Social Security - even if it is just borrowed or leased - avoids these pitfalls....
