Jorge, yo pienso y veo este asunto igual que el abogado Russell y que eso del 
Robo de Identidad es un "delito"  que se Chutaron y lo usan como pretexto para 
incriminar a los trabajadores inmigrantes, pues la figura delictiva no se da en 
el caso de los trabajadores que usan el numero solo para trabajar. 


Lourdes Espinoza 
      President
Fundacion de Defensa comunitaria
630-201-5965 
 

--- On Wed, 2/25/09, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote:

From: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: <ChicagoMayDay> Justices sympathetic to immigrant in ID theft case
To: [email protected]
Date: Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 3:58 PM



Justices sympathetic to immigrant in ID theft case
By MARK SHERMAN – 3 hours ago 
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court appeared poised Wednesday to rule that 
undocumented immigrants who use phony Social Security numbers to get work 
should not be considered identity thieves, even if those numbers belong to real 
people.
The court seemed likely to reject the government's argument that, under a 2004 
law that metes out a mandatory two-year prison term for "aggravated identity 
theft," prosecutors do not have to offer any proof that a defendant knew the 
identification belonged to someone else and was not simply made up.
Should someone get two extra years in prison "if it just so happens that the 
number you picked out of the air belongs to someone else?" Chief Justice John 
Roberts asked Justice Department lawyer Toby Heytens.
In response, Heytens urged the justices to look at the law from the perspective 
of the victims, who care only that someone is using their seemingly private 
personal information.
Kevin Russell, a Washington lawyer arguing on behalf of an undocumented worker 
from Mexico, said there is no question that his client committed a crime by 
using false documents. But Russell said Congress was trying to toughen 
penalties for identity thieves who gain access to people's private information 
to drain their accounts and run up bills in their name.
Undocumented workers commonly buy ID cards from forgers without any intention 
of invading someone else's privacy, he said. Russell said there are roughly a 
billion possible Social Security numbers, only about 400 million of which have 
been used.
Russell's client, Ignacio Carlos Flores-Figueroa, came to the attention of 
authorities when decided to drop the assumed name and phony ID numbers he had 
used for six years. Flores-Figueroa gave his employer his real name and new 
Social Security and alien registration numbers. Those numbers, however, 
belonged to real people.
Federal prosecutors won a conviction under the 2004 identity theft law and the 
8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the conviction.
The government has used the charge to persuade people to plead guilty 
to20lesser immigration charges and accept prompt deportation. Many of those 
undocumented workers had been arrested in immigration raids.
On Wednesday, the court's conservative and liberal justices signaled they have 
problems with the government's use of the law against defendants without 
additional evidence that those defendants knew they were invading the privacy 
of real people.
A decision is expected in the spring.
The case is Flores-Figueroa v. U.S., 08-108. 
 



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