<p>A 23-year old librarian in Alamance County, North Carolina, has been arrested and held in jail on immigration violations. Her parents illegally immigrated to the U.S.A. when she was a toddler. Her only crime besides immigration law violations is Social Security fraud because she used the SSN of a dead person. The discovery of her true status also led to the arrest of her parents and her husband, all undocumented aliens. However, her two-year old son is an American citizen. Neighbors and co-workers have come to her defense. And there is concern that the Sheriff’s Office used private medical records to reveal her status. Should she be deported? See newsobserver.com</p>
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That’s a serious crime. About time it started to be treated accordingly.</p>
<p>I was starting to feel sorry until I read the part about using the SSN of a dead person. It was not her only option…</p>
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<p>Yes. She’s free to take her son with her if that’s your concern.</p>
<p>SF–Beyond moving back to a country she left as a toddler, and presumably has little connection to, what were her other options?</p>
<p>(Not being flippant, really don’t how she could handle the necessity of having an SS# otherwise.)</p>
<p>Mexico is not a terrible place. It is has the 12th largest economy in the world, a sizable upper-class population, natural resources (oil) and many universities. Uneven income distribution is its problem. Many Americans chose to live there full time. What would be so horrible about relocating there? She now has the education, skills and good health (thanks to the U.S.A.) to make a difference in her own country.</p>
<p>Haven’t we had amnesty for illegal aliens within her lifetime?</p>
<p>While I may be sympathetic on a personal level, identity theft (even of a dead person) isn’t a victimless crime.</p>
<p>Bay, it might be a very nice place, but it is not her home, which she will probably never be able to return to.</p>
<p>ZM–what is the usual outcome and repercussions of the use of dead people’s SS numbers? I’m not sure, myself.</p>
<p>Garland, it depends on the deceased. If there are survivors, the theft can cause problems for them and the estate for years.</p>
<p>Have some compassions! She is gainfully employed and otherwise a model citizen. She has a two-year old son who is legally a US citizen. Deporting her to a strange country would be undue hardship for her and her son and would accomplish nothing useful. </p>
<p>This is a case that she should be given a legal work permit so she may continue her life here. </p>
<p>Northstarmom, her case is not atypical in that many illegal immigrants failed to take the opportunity of amnesty.</p>
<p>Aren’t thefts for actual new identity purposes (as opposed to for money gain) usually done with very young persons (less likely to have an estate)?</p>
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<p>1986, so they would have just missed it or may not have qualified at that time.</p>
<p>She is not a model citizen. She is not a citizen at all. She is a criminal.</p>
<p>Garland, I think that’s true, but as this case shows, the other does happen. It actually happened to my MIL when she died a few years ago. It was not even a little bit fun to deal with.</p>
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<p>I agree with zoosersmom…she’s not a model citizen, because she’s NOT A CITIZEN. Would you say this about someone committing tax evasion? How about going to a supermarket and stealing expensive items every night?</p>
<p>It really bothers me that people don’t understand that illegal aliens are criminals. They are breaking the law, and they need to be treated as criminals. If you ask me, they shouldn’t have amnesty at all. The way we treat illegal aliens just makes it harder on people who want to do it right and come here legally.</p>
<p>Yes she broke our law in using the SS# of a deceased person. But to deport her on that would be “cruel and unusual punishment” for her and her son. Moreover, our continual denial of opportunity for people to immigrate into this land is a shame; it was never the intent of our Founding Fathers. </p>
<p>As human, I would like to see us be guided by principles more than just the law of the land. To deport her and her son is certainly not what any Christian would advocate.</p>
<p>Undocument immigrants are NOT criminals until so adjudged by a court of law. That’s why we have immigration judges (even if they were appointed illegally through the machinations of the Bush/Goodling operation.)</p>
<p>Where is your compassion for those victimized by identity theft?</p>
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<p>Says you and you are certainly not an authority of every Christian.</p>
<p>Before she committed identity theft, what should she have done? I don’t see what legit options she had; it is not her fault that her parents brought her here as a toddler. This is her home.</p>
<p>(I am usually conservative with regards to immigration issues, too, but I can’t fathom deporting a woman who came here as a toddler, is working a steady and respectable job helping her community, and is mothering a US citizen.) Identity theft is a serious issue, but I don’t know what reasonable option this woman had.</p>
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<p>So you think Jesus wanted people just to run around, doing whatever they want and breaking the law? Interesting.</p>
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<p>They’re breaking the law. How much farther do they need to go for you to consider them a criminal?</p>
<p>I understand that she probably had no choice in coming here. At the same time, it was her choice to steal someone else’s identity and not try to gain citizenship during the years she’s been here. She also endangered her child because she chose to have said child, knowing full well she could be caught and deported at any time.</p>
<p>What do you want the government to do? “Well, you’ve done nothing to try and gain citizenship, and you stole someone’s identity…oh, wait, your parents brought you here illegally as a child. You’re free to go.”</p>