Targeting Illegal Immigrants Through ID Theft Laws

MADELEINE BRAND, host:

This is Day to Day. I'm Madeleine Brand. The Supreme Court is hearing a case tomorrow on when and how the government can use identity theft charges against illegal immigrants. In Northern Colorado, the DA has arrested more than a thousand people based on identity theft evidence in their tax records. They face possible deportation. Colorado Public Radio's Megan Verlee has more.

MEGAN VERLEE: It was just after five in the evening when the policemen arrived at Brenda Miranda's door last November. The officers asked for Cesar Jimenez, a man she'd never heard of. As Miranda explained that, her husband came to see what was the matter.

Ms. BRENDA MIRANDA: (Through Translator) They proceeded to ask him what his name was. He told them, Jose Mendoza. He was still in his work clothes, and he still had his tool belt on. At that point, they took his tool belt off and handcuffed him.

VERLEE: Miranda eventually learned her husband had been working under the identity of Cesar Jimenez.

Mr. KEN BUCK (District Attorney, Weld County): You can go out on the street corner here, and you can buy a false identity.

VERLEE: That's Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck, one of the driving forces behind Operation Numbers Game, the investigation which has yielded more than 40 arrests so far, with potentially hundreds more to come. It all started last year with a routine case of identity theft. Deputies interviewed the suspect's tax preparer, Amalia Cerrillo, and Buck says they got more than they bargained for.

Mr. BUCK: Sheriff's office received information from Amalia that she prepared tax returns that would indicate identity theft or criminal impersonation in a number of cases.

VERLEE: Officers got a search warrant to seize all of Cerrillo's tax records. More than 1,300 of them had the same smoking gun.

Mr. BUCK: The W2 would contain the false information, and the 1040 would contain accurate information.

VERLEE: What that means is that undocumented immigrants were using fake or stolen information on their work forms but using their real identities when filing taxes. If that sounds confusing, welcome to a strange little corner of tax policy. The IRS wants everyone, regardless of immigration status, to pay their taxes, so it allows people who don't have social security numbers to apply for what's called an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or ITIN.

ITINs were set up for resident aliens and others who work in the U.S. legally, but people familiar with the system say it's also used by plenty of people who are here illegally. Generally, privacy laws prevent the IRS from sharing tax documents with other government agencies, like Immigration. Rebecca Smith is with the National Employment Law Project, a group that's advising immigrants in this case.

Ms. REBECCA SMITH (Staff Attorney and West Coast Coordinator, National Employment Law Project): The IRS walks a very delicate balance between allowing folks to pay their taxes and encouraging that activity, right? The DA's activity here is really an end run around those privacy protections.

VERLEE: The ACLU of Colorado has filed a class action lawsuit alleging Weld County's sheriff and district attorney violated privacy laws by seizing tax records indiscriminately. The ACLU's legal director, Mark Silverstein, compares the case to a situation where police know there are drug dealers living in a neighborhood but aren't sure exactly where.

Mr. MARK SILVERSTEIN (Legal Director, ACLU): The police can't conduct a house-by-house or apartment-by-apartment search because they know that in the building or in the neighborhood they're going to uncover some evidence of crime. They have to have a more particularized and targeted search.

VERLEE: If the Colorado courts uphold District Attorney Ken Buck's sweeping seizure of tax records to look for identity theft, and by proxy, illegal immigrants, the case could have far=reaching consequences. Buck says he's already gotten a few calls from other law enforcement agencies. But in his words, not enough.

Mr. BUCK: I'm surprised that not more people are concerned about stopping identity theft and criminal impersonation in this country.

VERLEE: Why are people at risk of deportation even filing taxes at all? Buck has a reason. The majority of suspects in the case ended up getting more money back from the government than they paid in. That's because they qualified for the additional child tax credit. But Brenda Miranda, whose husband was arrested in the case, says there's a bigger motivation.

Ms. MIRANDA: (Through Translator) We did it because we hoped that if one day there was some kind of amnesty or reform, we would be able to prove to the government that we were paying our taxes legally.

VERLEE: Miranda's hope for amnesty brings up the one thing everyone involved in this case, from the DA to the ACLU, says they want: immigration reform. Until then, all sides say these local skirmishes over immigration will only continue. For NPR News, I'm Megan Verlee. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.