Cloned business and law enforcement vehicles used as a smuggling tool

(Picture of "toy" Border Patrol vehicle courtesy of SpongeBob22 at Flickr)

It appears that the criminals exploiting our notoriously "not very secure" Southern border have a new tool in their arsenal.

Vehicles bearing fake logos of the Border Patrol, Fedex, DirecTV and everyone's favorite source of outsourced goods, "Walmart" are being used to smuggle illicit merchandise and human beings across the border.

Brian Ross (ABC News) reports:

A fake U.S. Border Patrol van was found to be carrying 31 illegal aliens in Casa Grande, Ariz.

An alert agent recognized that the "H" in the van's serial number is a letter used only on U.S. Border Patrol Jeep Wranglers. It should have been a "P."

"Neither emergency service vehicles nor any government vehicles are exempt from terrorist or other criminal use," the report warns its law enforcement readers.

The ABC report didn't have much source information about this case so I decided to do a little digging.

I started at the Border Patrol site -- and although a found press releases with an impressive (overwhelming) amount of illegal activity they are catching -- I couldn't find anything on cloned vehicles.

Sadly enough, we are seeing border patrol agents pay the ultimate price trying to defend our borders, and as most people know two of them are in prison for shooting a known drug smuggler.

Digging a little deeper, I found a story on WFAA TV (Dallas) by Rebecca Lopez with more detail on this. Both reports reference a report (I couldn't find) from the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Of note, there is concern that terrorists could use this method to obtain entry (or worse) into the United States. The report referenced has allegedly been passed out to law enforcement agencies nationwide.

The WFAA story also references a cloned vehicles fact sheet put out by National Insurance Crime Bureau. Apparently cloning vehicles is a known method used by auto theft rings to fence their stolen merchandise.

Recently, there was quite a bit of uproar over Mexican truck drivers being given carte blanche access to U.S. roadways. Sadly enough, with cloned vehicles and the easy availability of counterfeit documents (identification) -- it might be difficult to tell which the difference between legitimate and illegitimate truck drivers.

I've covered counterfeit documents, as well as, the ease in which they are obtained frequently on this blog. A lot of these posts reference Suad Leija, who has been covered frequently in the press regarding the assistance she has given the government in exploring the problem we face with counterfeit documents (paper weapons).

Suad assisted the government in their prosecution of the largest counterfeit document cartel operating in this country. The case is still pending in court.

ABC News story by Brian Ross, here. Of note, boingboing, which a much more popular blog than this one linked to the Brian Ross story on this, also.

My daughter and her partner sent me the boingboing link, which inspired me write this rant.

WFAA did a video presentation of this story, which is on YouTube:

Kidnapping scams head North of the Border

Over the years, I've heard stories of illegal immigrants having family members kidnapped, or held in safe (?) houses until they pay up. Sometimes the kidnapping occurs in Mexico -- where kidnappings are common -- and the illegal aliens are compelled to wire money for the release of their loved one(s).

Dane Schiller of the Houston Chronicle recently wrote a interesting article about this with a slightly different twist. In this article, the alleged victim fakes the kidnapping and attempts to collect the money, herself.

From Dane's article:

A chilling voice mail came over Delfino Ramirez Diaz's cell phone: His pregnant and sobbing girlfriend told Ramirez she'd been snatched by kidnappers and only a ransom of $10,000 would stop them from inducing labor and selling their twins on the black market.

"Help me, my love! Help me!" Maria Isabel Puente said in Spanish. "They said they are going to give me an herb to remove my babies," she continued. "I love you so much. Whatever happens, I love you so much."

The incident, which police said played out quietly in Houston last week, turned out to be a scam.

The article quotes a retired FBI agent, who is now the mayor of a town in Texas as saying:

Retired FBI agent Raul Salinas, who taught anti-kidnapping courses to Mexican police and is now mayor of the border city of Laredo, said kidnapping scams are so common in Mexico that there is a term for them — autosecuestro — which basically translates as "self-kidnapping."

"I handled a couple in Mexico City — they would claim they were kidnapped and they were just trying to extort their families," Salinas said.

Going back to the alleged kidnapping in the article found the so-called victim in an apartment and arrested her.

Interesting article from the Houston Chronicle, here.

When I first started writing this post, I referenced I few personal instances of hearing about illegal immigrants being kidnapped, or having family members held for ransom. I decided to run a Google search, "illegal immigrants kidnapping," and a lot of references to this subject. If you would like to see for yourself, the search results are here.

Since illegal immigrants are generally fearful of reporting things to the authorities, it makes me wonder how much of this might be going on?

No matter what side of the immigration debate you are on (one thing is for certain) a lot of criminal activity is hidden within this growing issue.

How much of our Social Security money is benefiting former illegal aliens in Mexico?

With predictions that Social Security might be bankrupt before many of us ever receive any benefits, money potentially being given to people not entitled to it, bothers some people.

Dr. Jerome R. Corsi (WorldNetDaily.com) just did a very eye-opening analysis of the problem, where he states:

Amid the U.S. government's acknowledgment of rampant document and benefit fraud, the Federal Reserve is wiring 26,000 Social Security payments every month to Mexicans south of the border.

Officials with the Federal Reserve and Social Security Administration insist payments are not going to illegal aliens but admit they cannot be certain. Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security has launched a new task force to address the "growing" problem of benefit fraud, including in the Social Security Administration.

I like the official statement that no payments are going to illegal aliens, but they can't be certain?It seems to me that if they were certain, they might HAVE do SOMETHING about it.

I sometimes like to examine the money trail, which is what anyone wanting to determine fraud should follow, and according to the article:

According to the Federal Reserve, in 2005 the amount of funds transferred to Mexico reached more than $30 billion, up from $16.6 billion in 2004. The remittance market to Mexico has experienced double-digit growth in recent years.

Even scarier, was what is termed a totalization agreement with Mexico, that Social Security refused to release until forced to by an advocate group for senior citizens:

As WND previously reported, after refusing to release the document for three and a half years, the Social Security Administration in January finally made public a totalization agreement that "would allow millions of illegal Mexican workers to draw billions of dollars from the U.S. Social Security Trust Fund."

The disclosure was forced by a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the TREA Senior Citizens League, a non-partisan seniors advocacy group.

This hasn't been signed into effect by President Bush, but it could be done without congressional approval.

Dr. Corsi sums up this analysis using factual data from the GAO:

In September 2003, the U.S. General Accounting Office estimated a Social Security totalization agreement with Mexico would cost $78 million in the first year and would grow to $650 billion (in constant 2002 dollars) in 2050.

The GAO admitted even this estimate was low given that the totalization agreement provides an additional incentive for millions more Mexicans to enter and work in the United States.

Dr. Corsi's highly interesting analysis (I highly recommend reading the entire article), here.

So far as the officials, who aren't certain if fraud is occurring, they might want to consider the amount of benefits fraud, recently uncovered in the Katrina and Rita hurricanes. Initially, officials seemed to be in denial (not certain) about how much of it happened there, also. After the GAO did a little digging, they seemed to find quite a bit of it - and rumor has it - they aren't finished finding all of it.

Benefit fraud is a huge problem, and it costs us all in the form of higher taxes. It also takes away from the funds available to pay honest people, who are entitled to receive them.

Here is another post, I wrote about the scope of this problem in a limited area (Southern California):

Los Angeles Grand Jury Calls Child Care Program an ATM for Thieves

The official ICE press release about the government task force looking into this problem can be seen, here.

Colorado Identity Theft Victim Shares Her Personal Feelings on the Immigration Raids

When I saw the recent immigration raids in Colorado and all the "media spin" on them, I had a lot of mixed feelings about the issue.

Then I came upon an interesting editorial from an actual identity theft victim.

The Nothern Colorado Tribune published a story by Teresa Myer, identity theft victim and free-lance writer, which said:

As I learned of the immigration raids taking place throughout the country Tuesday, I wondered if one of those arrested was me.

Since 2001, someone has been using my name and Social Security number to gain employment as a seasonal worker.

In June 2004, I received a letter from the Internal Revenue Service, stating I owed more than $1,200 in taxes for "unreported income." The businesses that reported that I had been working for them included a pecan sorting facility in Deming, N.M., and several ConAgra facilities in Texas, Colorado and New Mexico.

Teresa's story goes on to express the long-term problems identity theft victims face, here.

The reason I had a mixed feelings about the immigration raids was because I have nothing against people trying to realize the American dream, but on the other hand, illegal immigration is becoming a big problem.

The problem is that an organized criminal element seems to be controlling their access to our dream and there are "greedy businesses," who benefit financially by not paying a "fair wage." There is also a substantial "social cost," when government services are being used to provide benefits at everyone's expense. And the cost has gotten so "high," some government programs are literally going "bankrupt."

Perhaps, if the "greedy businesses," were forced to pay for these benefits, hiring illegal aliens wouldn't be so profitable?

If you would like to read more about organized criminals providing other people's identities to fuel this problem, I wrote this post a few months ago:

Mexican Organized Crime Ring is Mass Producing Fake Documents ...

Salvation Army Sued by Illegal Immigrants

Here is an interesting item, illegal immigrants are suing the Salvation Army. As reported from the AP via Yahoo:

A half-dozen illegal immigrants are suing the Salvation Army and two of its former local officials for consumer fraud, claiming the leaders took their money under false promises of helping them gain legal status.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in state Superior Court, claims the Rev. Enoc Tito Sotelo told his mostly Latino congregation at Plainfield's Salvation Army church that he would help them become Americans if they each paid $4,000 and donated $500 to the church.

The Salvation Army isn't commenting, but said they recently "terminated" the staff members involved.

Link, here.

This case will raise some interesting questions, such as how can anyone justify people who are "illegal" using tax money to hear a fraud case in civil court?

On the other hand, if fraud was committed, why is the case being heard in a civil court?

Perhaps, this case should be moved to a criminal court. Both "fraud" and "illegal immigration" are criminal offenses and (if found guilty) the former Salvation Army employees should go where they belong, or jail. The Judge could then order "civil restitution" and forward it to the "illegal immigrants" in the country, where they have been deported to.

Of course, before doing this, perhaps deductions should be made from the "civil restitution" amount for social services used (including those of the Salvation Army) before forwarding a single penny.

Daily, we read of government and charitable programs having financial difficulties. It's not fair to the rest of us - who haven't broken any laws - when we have to "financially support" (in the form of tax dollars) people who have broken the law seeking to profit from their illegal activity.

Illegal immigrants are routinely victimized by criminals, but you don't see them, or their attorneys suing the gangs that bring them across the border. Since this is the case, then why is OK to sue the Salvation Army, which is supported by charity?

Criminal activity needs to be addressed in criminal courts and people committing a crime (no matter how noble they think it is) shouldn't be financially rewarded.