On "Fox News Sunday", Chris Wallace asked what Trump would do with all of the law abiding illegal aliens who have not committed any crimes since entering the United States illegally. Wallace's question is based on the myth that most illegal aliens are law abiding, which is simply not the case. The fact is that the vast majority of illegal aliens routinely commit multiple job-related felonies.
"According to who?" you ask. Well, the answer is that the Social Security Administration, ACLU, New York Times, La Raza, LULAC, Democratic pundits Kirsten Powers and Eleanor Clift, the libertarian Reason Foundation, and USA Today.
They and countless others all acknowledge openly that illegal aliens use fraudulently obtained Social Security numbers, which means that they routinely commit Social Security fraud and forgery — felonies. When the Social Security number used by an illegal alien is a real one belonging to another person (as opposed to a made up number) the illegal alien is committing identity theft, another felony. And when the individual using a fraudulently obtained number completes an I-9 form, she commits perjury, yet another felony. People have been convicted for these crimes.
Therefore, those who say that illegal aliens do not commit crimes either ignorantly or deliberately fail to acknowledge that the use of fraudulently obtained Social Security numbers results in criminal activity or they are flat out lying when they say that illegal aliens have not committed any felonies after either sneaking into the United States or overstaying their visas.
On the rare occasions when someone actually acknowledges that the vast majority of illegal aliens routinely commit felonies, they justify the crimes by saying that those committing the crimes are desperate people who are forced to commit felonies in order to improve their lives. And besides, Social Security payments made by illegal aliens using fraudulently obtained Social Security numbers support the Social Security system, which is a good thing.
However, the fact is that there are millions of victims of these illegal alien, job-related felonies. When an illegal alien uses a Social Security number belonging to an American citizen, which is identity theft, unpaid taxes on that number are attributed to the real owner of the Social Security number, which results in unwarranted assessments for unpaid taxes.
In addition, criminal records attach to Social Security numbers, so innocent Americans are denied jobs when they fail background checks. Wages earned on a stolen Social Security number are attributed to the real owner of the number, so a five-year-old child who requires immediate medical services is denied Medicaid because the earnings of an illegal alien have been recorded under his number, which now shows that he has earned too much money to qualify for Medicaid.
Students are denied financial assistance because it appears that they earn too much or are refused loans because illegal aliens using their Social Security numbers have ruined their credit. And perhaps worse of all, medical records are corrupted with life-threatening consequences when the illegal alien's medical records are comingled with those of the true owner of a Social Security number.
So the bottom line is that, as the supporters of illegal aliens readily confirm, the vast majority of illegal aliens commit multiple felonies that do serious harm to their victims. Given this, Chris Wallace needs to get his facts straight and stop spreading misinformation by talking about law abiding illegal aliens. The same goes for politicians, including those running for president.
Below are just a few of the groups/individuals who publicly acknowledge that illegal aliens routinely use fraudulently obtained Social Security numbers, which results in the vast majority of illegal aliens being involved in criminal activity every day of their lives in the United States.
ACLU:
The Social Security Administration (SSA) holds that undocumented immigrants "account for a major portion" of the billions of dollars paid into the Social Security system, an estimated $520 billion as of October 2005. The SSA keeps a file called the "earnings suspense file" on all earnings with incorrect or fictitious Social Security numbers and the SSA's chief actuary stated in 2005 that "three quarters of other-than-legal immigrants pay payroll taxes."
The majority of undocumented immigrants pay income taxes using Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) or false Social Security numbers.
It is impossible to know exactly how many illegal immigrant workers pay taxes. But according to specialists, most of them do. Since 1986, when the Immigration Reform and Control Act set penalties for employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants, most such workers have been forced to buy fake IDs to get a job.
Currently available for about $150 on street corners in just about any immigrant neighborhood in California, a typical fake ID package includes a green card and a Social Security card. It provides cover for employers, who, if asked, can plausibly assert that they believe all their workers are legal. It also means that workers must be paid by the book — with payroll tax deductions.
Kirsten Powers, Political Analyst, CNN:
POWERS: First of all, I just want to say what the caller was saying, that all these people are getting things for free, isn't really true. Most of the people, if you get a job in this country, and the Social Security Administration will tell you this, most of these people are paying into Social Security and will never get it.
Actuary of the Social Security Administration:
Social Security officials do not know what fraction of the suspense file corresponds to the earnings of illegal immigrants. But they suspect that the portion is significant.
"Our assumption is that about three-quarters of other-than-legal immigrants pay payroll taxes," said Stephen C. Goss, Social Security's chief actuary, using the agency's term for illegal immigration.
Internal Revenue Service (IRS):
According to the Washington Times:
The IRS has discovered more than 1 million Americans whose Social Security numbers were stolen by illegal immigrants, but officials never bothered to tell the taxpayers themselves, the agency's inspector general said in a withering new report released Tuesday. ..."Taxpayers identified as victims of employment-related identity theft are not notified," the inspector general said. ... "It is stunning that the IRS has chosen to aid and abet identity thieves for so long instead of protecting the innocent victims of the theft," said Sen. Daniel Coats, Indiana Republican. Victims' numbers are stolen by illegal immigrants who need to give employers a valid Social Security number in order to get a job. Employers are prohibited from probing too deeply into numbers, even when they suspect fraud.
League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC):
48 people are now indicted as part of Wednesday's identity theft raid at the Pilgrim's Pride in Mount Pleasant. Immigration and customs officials confirmed that they've been looking into the scam for over a year.
Nearly 300 people in all were arrested in the pre-dawn raids at plants in 5 states. Authorities want to make it clear that the arrests were not random, and they had proof those in custody were working under someone else's Social Security number.
Domingo Garcia, LULAC General Counsel said it was well known that around 80% of the workers at Pilgrim's Pride had fake identification.
Migrant Farmworker Justice Project in Lake Worth, Fla.:
Employers are obligated to ask for a Social Security number, but they don't have to confirm it is real. That has led to the printing of millions of false Social Security cards sold to newly arrived illegal immigrants.
The SSA notifies employers every year of Social Security numbers and workers that don't match up. Employers tell employees they have to get new cards.
"And they simply do it all over again the next year with a new number," said attorney Greg Schell of the Migrant Farmworker Justice Project in Lake Worth, Fla.
A false SSA card, accompanied by a phony alien registration card — known as a green card — can be had for about $200 in Florida, Economos said.
TREA Senior Citizens League (TSCL):
Immigration law forbids working in this country without legal authorization and a Social Security number (SSN). Yet millions of "undocumented" immigrant workers are earning income. Illegals often get jobs by using illegally obtained, forged, or invalid Social Security numbers. Employers in turn withhold payroll taxes and report the earnings to the Social Security Administration (SSA) using those numbers. When the numbers don't match up with the numbers issued by SSA, they go into a special file called the "Earnings Suspense File." Valid numbers issued from the U.S. government are also misused.
Eleanor Clift, Daily Beast:
Contrary to the myth advanced by opponents of reform that illegal immigrants don't contribute their fair share in taxes, and drain government benefits, the reality is that undocumented workers are helping to keep the Social Security trust fund in the black. They do this because they are paying into the system typically with false Social Security numbers, which means they will never collect benefits. Their money, often collected for many years, helps keep the system afloat and benefits flowing to aging baby boomers.
A stunning two-thirds of illegal immigrants pay Medicare, Social Security and personal income taxes.
Michael, a farm owner who asked for his last name to be withheld, argued that his unauthorized employees don't get a free ride. He told VICE News that they pay taxes and are hired in accordance with the government's I-9 requirement.
Unauthorized workers usually demonstrate their employment eligibility with fake IDs and fake Social Security numbers. Once hired, these "questionably documented" workers, as Michael calls them, end up on the payroll and have taxes automatically taken out of their checks, like any other employee. That money then goes to the federal treasury to fund programs like Social Security and Medicare.
Filing taxes can help with an immigration case. For example, filing taxes [using a fraudulently obtained Social Security number] is evidence that you are a person with good moral character. It shows that you respect and follow U.S. laws. Showing good moral character is important when applying to become a U.S. citizen and for other types of immigration cases. Filing taxes can also be used to prove the number of years you have lived in the U.S., which is very important for immigration.
The Internal Revenue Service doesn't have an estimate of how many illegal immigrants pay income tax.
But one indicator is the 9 million W-2 forms with mismatched names and Social Security numbers it received in 2004. The IRS said the W-2 forms with invalid Social Security numbers reported about $53 billion in wages and about three-fourths of that, $40 billion in wages, had taxes withheld.