The left wants to protect illegal immigration into our country. They’ll say it’s the humanitarian thing to do. They’ll point out how most immigrants just want to work, pay taxes and contribute. They’ll say that illegal immigration doesn’t cause any real harm. They’ll even tell you that using the word “illegal” is unjust because a person can’t be illegal.
It’s amazing they can speak at all with their feet so deep in their mouths. Illegal immigrants in the U.S. have stolen at least 1.4 million identities and are actively using them to commit fraud. The situation is complicated, widespread and unquestionably bad for the citizens of America.
IRS Report
A report from 2015 shows the depth of the problem. A total of 1.4 million cases of identity fraud were identified, and the report estimates that a total of 2.4 million cases could have occurred. These examples of fraud are unique and bear strange consequences. In most cases, the illegal immigrants are filing W-2s to be allowed to work. Because they aren’t here legally, they have Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs). These numbers are not sufficient to be legally hired, so the immigrants use false social security numbers (SSNs) to get through the paperwork. The report shows that 87 percent of ITIN workers are doing this. The IRS is trying to justify this enormous problem by saying that they are at least collecting revenue from illegal workers. This is patently false.
Tax Problems
This wouldn’t be such a major issue if it worked the way the IRS report claimed. Illegal immigrants are filing for taxes, but they aren’t the ones responsible for payments. Instead of having their wages deducted and contributing to the system, they are inflating reported income for innocent citizens. The IRS tracks taxes by SSN, so citizens with compromised identities are the ones on the hook for the extra taxes, and in many cases, they are pushed into higher tax bracket rates that they can’t afford.
In this instance, the IRS isn’t lying that they are collecting extra revenue due to illegal immigrants. The problem is that the immigrants aren’t the ones providing that revenue. If this was the end of the issue, it would still constitute theft. Unfortunately, the problems run deeper.
Stolen Identities
The majority of these tax fraud cases aren’t as simple as what you just read. In about 10 percent of cases, it becomes more sinister. For these unlucky Americans, their identities aren’t just stolen for the sake of reporting illegal income. In addition to the tax problems, identity theft is used to steal money from these victims and ruin their credit. Estimates suggest that this is the case for anywhere between 100,000 and 300,000 cases.
Let’s recap. The innocent illegal immigrants who are just trying to earn a living are directly responsible for increasing taxes on as many as 2.4 million Americans. Worse, hundreds of thousands are having their identities stolen for credit fraud, direct theft and a number of other illegal activities.
Enforcing the Law
Perhaps the most frustrating part of this whole issue is law enforcement. The IRS has their hands tied pretty tightly. They aren’t allowed to partner with Homeland Security or other agencies to rapidly identify all of the fraudulent workers. This is the primary reason they have accounted for less than half of all cases. Even worse, identify protection laws prevent them from even informing most victims that there is a problem in the first place. In other words, there are over a million cases where the IRS is overcharging taxes, knows about it and is not allowed to inform wronged parties of the situation. It’s difficult to imagine this issue being handled more ineffectively.
Illegal immigration is already a breach of the laws of our nation. More importantly, it is causing clear problems for millions of our citizens. We can no longer pretend that this is the harmless byproduct of outdated immigration laws. Illicit, deliberate action is bringing harm to our people, and continued inaction cannot be justified. Clamping down on immigration laws protects us from harm and could reduce overall identity theft by 10 percent.
Moreover, there are millions of legal immigrants doing things the right way. Continuing to turn a blind eye to illegal immigration is a slap in the face to everyone obeying the law and enduring the frustrating path to legal residence and naturalization. It is time to put America first and protect our own from this undeniable harm.
~ American Liberty Report
