Here’s how Congress must start fighting identity theft – NOW

Identity theft is among the most devastating crimes. Anyone who has been a victim of identity theft can attest to the long-term disruption of one’s life and property as a result of a stolen Social Security number, not to mention being on the hook for the criminality, debt, and taxes incurred by the perpetrator. There should be nothing political about solving this problem.

Yet when it comes to a primary source of identity theft – illegal immigration – the government has done everything possible to cover up the problem. Isn’t it time that Congress finally use the obvious tools it has to identify, notify, deter, and prosecute all cases in order to stop this growing menace?

As we mentioned yesterday, the fact that the illegal alien alleged murderer of Molly Tibbetts was able to work and remain in the country undetected is not an anomaly. Many illegal aliens engage in identity theft, and that is the lynchpin to their flourishing here. The absence of that loophole and the lack of an official identity would essentially make life impossible for them here and would deter them from coming.

But it’s more than just stopping illegal immigration. Regardless of one’s view on immigration, nobody wants to ignore the threat of identity theft. For better or worse, government has forced us into a Social Security identification system that defines our entire lives. As such, it is the foremost responsibility of the federal government to protect that identity. So why is it that illegals can steal our identities with impunity and the IRS and Social Security Administration (SSA) refuse to cooperate with the DHS by identifying those numbers used multiple times, informing the victims, identifying the perpetrators, and initiating prosecution against them?

Illegal immigrants are the 800-pound gorilla of identity theft

According to the Center for Immigration Studies, “Eight of the 10 states with the highest percentage of illegal aliens in their total population are among the top 10 states in identity theft.” In Arizona alone, over one million children are victims of stolen identity, more than four times the national rate. Hispanic-Americans with Latino-sounding surnames are most vulnerable to such theft. Illegal aliens seeking employment will often be given the stolen Social Security numbers of children by the smuggling industry, because that will take longer to be detected. It has devastating consequences for the child victims, who begin their adulthood saddled with all of the criminality, fiscal liabilities, and taxes of these illegal aliens.

Read the rest of the story HERE.