Sentiments On The FLDS YFZ Ranch Raid (update)

I’ve wanted to put up a quick opinion on the Texas FLDS issue and have finally found the time to do so. Here’s my opinion.

I think the whole thing stinks.

It is becoming increasingly evident that the huge raid and subsequent mass removal of children (including infants) from their mothers and fathers has all been based on a false report (aka: a prank call).

To me, that means due process was entirely violated. If abuse occurred and there was actual evidence of it, then get the proper warrant for that case and prosecute it. However, latching on to one (false) report to indict every person in that community and launch a massive fishing expedition is absurd and an anthema to the rule of law.

While Texas has split up families, at this time, the case for abuse seems to be bogged down and lacking hard evidence, with one exception: A statement in a Fox News report notes:

Of the 53 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 who are in state custody, 31 either have given birth or are expecting, Azar [Child Protective Services] said.

That one statement is all the evidence and it, too, may be partially invalid based on Texas law (from the Fox News story): “Under Texas law, children under the age of 17 generally cannot consent to sex with an adult.” [emphasis added]

Yesterday, Texas officials stated they found some evidence of abuse but the allegations lacked details (see here and here) and seemed to be a stretch in an effort to justify their actions (the so called ‘broken bone’ evidence is already being questioned). Texas officials also came out with a statement about a pregnant teenager recently giving birth in their custody. The problem is that she may be 18 and even if 17, there may be no crime under Texas laws (depending on when conception occurred). She, too, may face having her newborn taken away from her.

In my opion, all the allegation based on their fishing expedition likely have little legal weight as they have all been ‘found’ based on a highly questionable warrant - there seems to be no legal basis for the original warrant, which throws all evidence found based upon this warrant in question. The allegations Texas CPS is coming out with (especially the broken bone stuff) smack of some serious ex post facto CYA.

From what I have seen, the original warrant seems more based on rumor and hearsay than any concrete evidence. That, in my opinion, compromises the findings resulting from a seemingly baseless raid. The way this has been handled appears to entirely disregard the Constituion and the rule of law.

To this end, I would ask you to join with Connor Boyack (he also authored the petition on the issue) and ask your Representatives and Texas Authorities to intervene in this case and ensure legal and Constitutional rights are honored.

UPDATE: This is in reference to the mother who gave birth while in custody I mentioned above: Sect mother of newborn not a minor, Texas concedes. As I said, she will have her newborn taken away:

The San Angelo Standard Times says Texas will continue to seek custody of the newborn.

Let’s see what other CYA measures Texas CPS will come up with.

Some Action on Criminal Illegal Immigrants

I recently noted that criminal illegal aliens in our prisons have access to tax funded programs including a GED which then gives some of them access to the in-state tuition benefit at our Universities.

It looks like ICE is going to make it harder for them to use that benefit IF the ICE prison sweeps continue. The SL Trib has a report on the enforcement program (Immigration cops comb jails for criminal suspects in country illegally).

Along the Wasatch Front and in southwest Utah, immigration agents visit jails almost every weekday looking for immigrants who have been arrested by local police. And the patrols are gaining new emphasis.

In March, immigration agents announced an expansion of the jail program, including improved technology to record fingerprints in a database and alert authorities when a previously arrested immigrant is again booked into a jail.

The jail patrols also demonstrate a priority for immigration enforcement. Rather than seeking every undocumented immigrant or making frequent raids at workplaces, federal agents are concentrating on immigrants accused of breaking the law after they arrive in the United States.

The article also has a UC Davis professor who doesn’t like the ICE sweeps give the obligatory “immigrants commit fewer crimes than the native-born population” quote. Of course, that statistic includes (or is exclusively related to) legal immigrants. The professor also seems to fail to comprehend that illegal immigrants have committed at least one crime (illegal entry or violating visa requirements) and likely, have a few more under their belt related to identity fraud if they happened to have a job or applied for a job in the US.

While ICE deporting those who have committed additional crimes is good, we still have a porous border where many can reenter (such as Mr. Escudero-Gonzalez, convicted of drunk driving and drug possession, who is highlighted in the article), if they so desire and, potentially, qualify for in-state tuition.

Finally, an information request (again): If anyone knows of any written rule on how high school attendance is verified by Universities for illegal immigrants applying for the in-state tuition benefit, please pass it along. While I’ve been told that they look at high school transcripts, I still can not find any written policy requiring the verification. If left solely to the State Code (which appears to leave verification to the administrator’s discression), a simple verbal “yes, I attended a Utah High School” could suffice for proof of meeting the requirement.

Criminal Illegal Immigrant Education (Update)

Apparently, we are helping to pay for criminal illegal alien education programs. The Davis County Clipper had an article on April 10, 2008, entitled “Jail inmates offered education programs” (not available on the web). The article notes three programs in place for the inmates: GED certificate (General Education Development, ie ‘High School diploma’), ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages), and ABE (Adult Basic Education - literacy education).

The programs are administered by the Utah State Office of Education. I found the programs are under the Adult Education department (more information is available at the link).

There are no disqualifications (involving legal residency) for participation in the programs. I understand that the ESOL program is volunteer driven and that no residency criteria is required for the use of Federal (tax) funds. However, all programs are open to those who are here illegally and have engaged in criminal activity.

We have the pleasure of paying for these programs via our tax dollars. At least, only those legally here should have access, but that is not the case.

Further, I would hope that obtaining the GED will not, then, entitle a criminal illegal immigrant who has resided in the state for three years to qualify for our in-state tuition. If so, what a deal: enter illegally (butting in front of those in legal immigration lines), commit a crime, get a taxpayer funded education and then be rewarded with discounted tuition at one of our universities (while legal immigrants and US citizens without criminal records pay the nonresident rate). Good grief.

Your tax dollars at work.

UPDATE:  While I’m still looking for the written administrative rule addressing in-state tuition HS attendance documentation, I am told that High School transcripts are required.  That only partially solves the problem, however (criminals illegal aliens still get tax-funded education and certain criminals will still qualify for the tuition benefit).  See comment 6 for details (and the rest of the comments for background).

Fugitive Job Protection

South Salt Lake’s Most Wanted has been captured. As I’ve stated on numerous occasions, illegal immigrants are not the only one’s who steal social security numbers and engage in identity theft for work. Fugitives do so as well. Yet another example:

Police say Barnes got a job using a family member’s identity. She is also accused of other identity theft crimes and has more than $200,000 in warrants.

The Legislature finally passed a bill that begins to deal with requiring employers to verify the ID of those they hire using the free SSA-ICE E-Verify program. However, that bill was limited to businesses who contract with the State and was delayed until 2009 by pressure from Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce and the illegal immigrant (including businesses using that labor) lobby. Several other states (such as Arizona, Oklahoma, and Colorado) require verification by all employers. There is also the possibility that Governor Huntsman may veto the bill and that the legislature will gut the bill in the 2009 session.   At least, contacting Huntsman’s office (801-538-1000) and asking that he sign SB 81 would be a good idea.

In the meantime, fugitives, deadbeat parents, illegal immigrants etc. can comfort themselves that Utah will remain a friendly state for them to find work by victimizing someone else’s identity (especially children, as they are the prime target of ID thieves).

Illegal Immigrant Child Sex and ID Theft

This will be quick.  An illegal immigrant has been arrested sexual abuse of a 14 year old.  I heard about this on radio news and found an article at Deseret News.    I understand that he has had an immigration hold placed on him and ICE is involved.

Here is a snippet:

A 22-year-old Provo man is being held in the Utah County Jail while the police investigate his alleged involvement in harboring a 14-year-old female runaway, having unlawful sex with her, supplying her with alcohol, possession of forged writings and identity theft.

…police found two resident identification cards as well as two Social Security cards. The numbers on the cards were linked to people other than the man..

As usual, identity theft is involved.   However, identity thieves don’t have much to worry about when it comes to finding work in Utah.  The Senate bill  (SB 81) that begins to deal with identity theft use in employment was delayed until 2009 and may be vetoed by Governor Huntsman or gutted by legislators after re-election.   Additionally, SB 81 is very limited as it would only effect businesses that contract with the State (all other businesses are still free to hire all stripes of identity thieves, including illegal immigrants).  For more on SB 81 click here, ID theft post can be found here and all posts on illegal immigration can be found here.

Finally, this story also turned up:

Police say the man, who was living in Santaquin, helped his 15-year-old girlfriend [conception occurred when she was 14] run away to Mexico while she was pregnant with their child.

…the two were taken into custody by U.S. Customs agents at the border near Yuma, Ariz. The girl was reunited with her parents and he was held in Arizona until his arrival in Utah…

I assume they involve the same person.

SB 81: Baby Steps and Extreme Vigilance

SB81 has been passed, BUT there is still work to be done.

First, contact Governor Huntsman (801-538-1000) and strongly, but politely, ask him to sign the bill. It is also worth asking what position the Governor has taken on this bill.

For more background see: Help With SB 81 - Illegal Immigration and SB 81 - Illegal Immigration - Update

Second - contrary to news reports, who consistently get it wrong, the bill only affects businesses that contract with the state (not business, in general). Hence the baby steps to identity theft protection (see the “Help with SB 81″ post for links on this issue too).

Next, the bill may be good once it goes into effect. However, an amendment delayed implementation until July, 2009 (again, baby steps). That means criminal illegal immigrants will be released onto our streets (via parole, end of sentence, etc) and be allowed to earn tax money and public benefits while they and other ID thieves continue to use stolen children’s identities.

In addition, since Senator Jenkins and his group were successful in delaying implementation until 2009, his task force (SB 97) will be able to issue their report before the provisions go into effect. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that the task force is not much more than a mask for a study in excuses and spin to, ultimately, kill implementation of SB 81. The legislature may do so next session (2009). Hence the need for extreme vigilance, especially during the 2009 session to ensure that reforms are not spiked. This is even more important as 2009 (unlike this year) is not an election year.

Basically, they can pass SB 81 this year to cover their political butts during an election year only to rescind or gut the measures (thereby pleasing Chamber of Commerce, big business, and other lobbyists) after re-election. It would be a classic Machiavellian-style maneuver.

Continued vigilance over the next full year is crucial.

Finally, it is also worth observing that Representative McIff was able to put a provision in the bill to allow transporting illegal immigrants less that 100 miles (excluding that from ‘human trafficking’ provisions) in an, apparent, effort to appease groups who knowingly use illegal immigrant labor.

SB 81 - Illegal Immigration - Update

This will be fairly short. SB 81 easily passed the Senate yesterday (click here for Senator’s votes).

However, Sen. Jenkins amendment succeeded on voice vote (ie no record of who voted for it). The amendment delays provisions until July 1, 2009. This gives legislators etc another year (and session) to spin reasons not to take action and, possibly, spike this bill in the next session.

Provisions affected by this include:

1. State and local governments will not have to verify employment eligibility for another year. Apparently, we need to wait another year for even the government to check if a prospective employee is using a stolen identity. Note: the provision requiring state contractors to verify eligibility was already set to 2009 by the bill sponsor.

2. Criminal illegal immigrants booked into prison will not have their status checked and be turned over to ICE until 2009. That means they can/will still be turned back out onto our streets.

3. You can lay-off a legal worker and replace that worker with an illegal worker with no State consequences until mid 2009.

4. Illegal immigrants can continue to receive taxpayer funded public benefits until mid 2009.

For the full list of affected measures go to the bill text and read the ‘Highlighted Provisions’ section (lines 11 through 63). Note: the link is to the original bill, prior to amendment (the amended bill text is still unavailable).

In terms of the voice vote, I understand that Senators Jenkins, Stephenson, and Killpack joined with Democrats in delaying implementation. However, they are not the only Republicans that did so. I will try to get a full list. In the meantime, contact your Senator and ask how they voted on the Jenkins amendment (feel free to let me know their response).

So on to the House we go. Again, contact (801-538-1029) your Representative (Rep lookup) and ask them to support this bill and that the only acceptable amendment would be to strike Senator Jenkins amendment unnecessarily delaying implementation off until July, 2009.

Depending how things fair in the House, soon you will also want to contact Governor Huntsmanb (801-538-1000) who’s administration is poor on this subject.

Finally, for further background on this bill please see Help With SB 81 - Illegal Immigration.

Illegal Immigration Humanity: The Ignored Victims (Update)

One of the greatest ignored victims of illegal immigration are those who’ve had their identities stolen. I’ve discussed why illegal immigration and identity theft are interrelated (plenty of background links in that post as well) - they need the SSN to work (and get credit lines etc). Unfortunately, children are the prime targets of this type of identity theft.

On Sunday, the Standard Examiner ran an editorial that the legislature needed to be more humane in their handling of State illegal immigration measures. The editorial focused only on the illegal immigrants and entirely ignored their victims. This isn’t the first time the media has chosen to ignore those impacted (see this response to a similar 2007 Editorial in the Park Record). From the Standard’s editorial:

Early last week, the Immigration Policy Coalition held a news conference at the Capitol. Its members include the Utah Manufacturers Association, the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce and the Utah Farm Bureau, and the message was a plea for gaining knowledge before taking action. Speakers argued against “onerous” and “burdensome” mandates to businesses that might be employing undocumented workers.

The Immigration Policy Coalition is urging passage of Senate Bill 97, sponsored by Sen. Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City. The measure would create a task force to study the various issues related to immigration policy and enforcement, and make recommendations.

First, the task force idea is a sham. We’ve been dealing with this subject for years and now is the time for action. The task force is simply a political ploy to kill the subject but give legislators the ability to spin and say they ‘addressed’ the issue this year.

Second, the Utah Manufacturer’s Association et al. have a complaint about “onerous” mandates. The proposed mandates they are referring to is employer identity verification using SSA-ICE’s E-Verify system. The system allows an employer to verify that their new employee is providing a legitimate SSN and not one that has been stolen. The system is web-based and, as I understand, returns a result within 15 seconds. Further, this system protects against all identity thieves (not just illegal immigrants) - fugitives, deadbeat parents, and other ID thieves will find it much harder to obtain employment. Additionally, such verification has helped capture fugitives such as the “King of Child Porn”. The only onerous part of these mandates is that the manufacturers and their cohorts will find it harder to employ cheap illegal labor (be it a fugitive or illegal immigrant) at the expense of our children’s identities.

Additionally, what about those people from Sudan, Zimbabwe, Tibet and the myriad of countries who don’t have borders attached to ours? These countries are typically much poorer and more oppressed than those bordering us. Those peoples can’t just run out across our border and that’s unfair. Why are we, effectively, only catering to those who have the greatest access - we ought to cater to all and make it fair.

Ultimately, the editorial and these calls for humanity are asking us to turn a blind eye to the victims and to our laws. That is not something most of us are willing to do, as demonstrated by the 2007 amnesty push. This issue has been around for years and the federal government has failed to address it and will, in the foreseeable future continue to avoid addressing the problem. In the meantime, our children’s identities (as well as our own) continue to be compromised. It is time to take action. As such I would urge folks to call the Senate (801-538-1035) and ask to leave a message for your Senator (Legislator lookup). Ask them to support Hickman’s SB81. While most employers are left our, the bill will mandate government and it’s contractors to verify employees identities before giving them your tax money. The bill will also revoke certain tax funded benefits and allow ICE’s 287(g) to be implemented.

Finally, I’ve noticed more services are available to check your and your children’s SSN to verify no one else is using it. I would highly recommend doing so. One service I’ve used is UCOURTS and have been quite satisfied with it. I haven’t tried any others thus far to comment on them, however. You may also click here for all my posts involving identity theft.

UPDATE: As I stated, the Feds will not be tackling the problem anytime soon: Hatch, Bennett: No federal immigration changes in sight:

Utah’s U.S. senators told the Legislature on Tuesday that changes to federal immigration laws won’t occur until after the next president takes office — and possibly longer.
<snip>
“I think the prediction it may be as long as five years is probably true,” Bennett said.

Another Raid, More Identity Theft

Quick blurb today. A few days ago, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raided a Lindon manufacturer (Universal Industrial Sales) that makes signs and guardrails for roads/highways.

The raid captured over 50 illegal immigrants and, as usual, charges regarding identity theft and document fraud are rolling in:

“I think it is safe to say anytime we find illegal aliens working some place there’s document fraud involved. Unfortunately, fraudulent documents are very easy to get a hold of, and so that’s something we’ll be looking into as we do the processing,” Counts said.

and

Customs officers have forwarded 30 cases to the Utah County attorney’s office for possible criminal prosecution. A handful of cases have been sent to the U.S. attorney in Utah because the individuals had previously been deported from the United States.

While it is nice that the identity theft/document fraud involved is being addressed, sweeter yet is that the company and human resources director may also get hit as they appear to be extensively involved:

The U.S. Attorney’s Office charged Universal Industrial Sales with ten counts of “concealing, harboring, or shielding undocumented workers from detection for commercial advantage.” They could be fined up to $500,000 for each count.

“The foreman from this place was from there and this was like a magnate [U.I.S.] for all the people over there,” said Villalpando. “A lot of people from Mexico hear about this company down there and they say, ‘well, lets go, they don’t care about papers. They hire us anyways. That’s what they were doing for years until now.” [emphasis added]

The company’s Human Resource Director, 39-year-old Provo resident, Alejandro “Alex” Urrutia-Garcia, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was also arrested. He faces two counts of “encouraging or inducing illegal aliens to remain in the United States unlawfully.” He could spend up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

While UIS had a reputation for not verifying documents etc, another interesting point is brought up in the article. Apparently, the company did start checking paperwork (maybe UIS was tipped off and wanted to throw off some attention?) but in doing so, dug themselves deeper by, apparently, not taking action against those with forged/invalid paperwork and/or essentially indicating they knew they were in trouble and quickly did ’something’ to, hopefully, divert attention (from the first, KSL link):

“Three or four months ago they were checking papers on everybody, but they never fired anybody that was already there. They should have done that and we wouldn’t be going through this situation right now,” [A former employee] said.

I was unable to determine if UIS has extensive sales in Utah. It appears they supply distributors but do show several of their structures in Utah on their website. Even if they are a big supplier, don’t count on the State or Governor caring about the identity theft as long as the result is a lower bid.

Illegal Immigrant Document Fraud At Airport

Well not only do we have to contend with identity theft/fraud (or click here) by illegal immigrants, but we also have to contend with airport security badge misuse at one of our biggest airports (Chicago O’Hare).  I would expect that the DOJ will drop the hammer on the company (Ideal Staffing Solutions Inc.) for this breach of security in a very sensitive area but we’ll see.

The original story and links are available at Hot Air as well as information on illegal immigrant voting.