<p>If she is indeed unaware of the origin of her SS#, then she cannot be charged with the crime. The fraud was committed by her parents. I agree with cptofthehouse that my D would have no idea likewise how her SS# was obtained.</p>
<p>With all of the heightened awareness of illegal aliens, I would be surprised if she didn’t know about her SS#. Where did they tell her she was born? Wouldn’t she ask if she was a naturalized citizen? I am fairly confident that she knew about her immigration status. She may not have known how the SS# was obtained, but she probably knew it was not a legal number.</p>
<p>Padad, she is charged with four felonies and facing imprisonment before deportation.</p>
<p>Don’t cloud the emotions with facts!</p>
<p>I don’t quite see the logic of some here. If a jewel thief is caught in the act of robbing a store- or our home, how many of us would go lightly on punishment if the robber claimed: he came from a poor family, in a poor part of town, was stealing to improve the quality of life of his family, or similar excuses?<br>
Society isn’t on trial here, Nick Romano is- to paraphrase a line from a Bogie film.</p>
<p>Many parents are vague about particulars. And kids often are not aware of their situations. I have seen too many times when a a house of cards goes down and the kids/spouse get hurt because they had little or no idea. Whatever the situation is with these young lady, she will be bearing the brunt of it all. Not something to celebrate. I get a feeling that the stones are out and many here are all set to throw. Count me out.</p>
<p>^Count me out as well. I can do more though. I would imagine the family can use funds for legal defense as well as for resettlement.</p>
<p>As far as I’m concerned, I was finally beginning to reap the benefits (or more precisely, my mother was) of providing her with an education. I neither feel safer, more secure, nor wealthier now that I am “protected” from her felonious activity.</p>
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<p>If such feelings were the benchmark for incarcerating felons, then we’d need to set many of them free.</p>
<p>And I’d be strongly in favor of that. The purpose of incarceration is to protect public health and safety - if incarceration isn’t doing that, then it is failing in its purposes. (I spend a good part of every day working with our state’s Criminal Justice Treatment Alternative, with a goal of “freeing” incarcerated felons so they can return to our communities as working, taxpaying citizens. And the taxpayers give me $9.15 million every two years to do just that.)</p>
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<p>No, the purpose of incarceration is rehabilitation.</p>
<p>Wow! You’re so 19th Century! I haven’t heard anyone (in government where I work) in 20 years!</p>
<p>(Which is precisely why the Criminal Justice Treatment Alternative was created: to rehabilitate felons by ensuring they AREN’T incarcerated.)</p>
<p>But I do - sincerely - hope you truly believe that, and will help with major efforts at prison reform. It’s a long, long road.</p>
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<p>It must be awfully quiet in there. ;)</p>
<p>When it comes to rehabilitation, VERY. Mainly because of loudmouthed politicians who thought they could score easily by arguing that no one could ever be rehabilitated.</p>
<p>I bless you, and if you ever need contacts with prison reform organizations, please let me know</p>
<p><<wretching sounds=“”>></wretching></p>
<p>I’m sure since you are in the know that these stats won’t surprise you:</p>
<p>[Bureau</a> of Justice Statistics Reentry Trends in the U.S.: Recidivism](<a href=“http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/reentry/recidivism.htm]Bureau”>Home | Bureau of Justice Statistics)</p>
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<p>Apparently in 60-something percent of the studied cases, once a criminal, always a criminal… I’m not a hard-liner on this stuff but to suggest that criminals deserve a break is just nuts. Who gave the victims a break? I’m hoping you devote equal energies to helping victims of the crimes for those you are trying to free?</p>
<p>Relating both to prison populations and to the discussions proceeding from the OP, this is why an intelligent, conscious, enlightened legal immigration policy is crucial. For a person going down a criminal path, one event leads to another, so at some point, in that person’s perspective, his options are fewer & fewer.</p>
<p>The majority of inmates are products of self-perceived desperation. The populations there are overwhelmingly black and latino. While not the only reason, two of the biggest objective reasons for desperation are poverty & functional illiteracy. We actually have plenty of desperation right here in the U.S. And we need to import more? (or deny that it’s being imported, or self-exported?) By not addressing the desperate escapes from rural Latin America, we <em>are</em> importing it, we <em>are</em> consigning ourselves to some percentage of those immigrants choosing or surrendering to a gang lifestyle & a prison result.</p>
<p>That is NOT a liberal or a compassionate policy. It’s a foolish & cruel policy. (Oh, excuse me: it’s not a “policy” because the non-enforcement of consequences for desperate entrance is not official and not in writing; it’s merely a practice. A collection of practices is an unwritten policy, nevertheless.) All of it, including the previous negligence of policy that led to the topic in the OP, has negative consequences. </p>
<p>“Path to citizenship”? How about a path to family literacy, a path to job skills, as a condition of any legal entrance and a condition of any granted amnesty after the fact for illegal residence? I’m speaking as it relates to the sub-topic of prison, not to the topic of the library employee, which additionally reinforces how broken the immigration ‘system’ is.</p>
<p>“If a jewel thief is caught in the act of robbing a store- or our home, how many of us would go lightly on punishment if the robber claimed: he came from a poor family, in a poor part of town, was stealing to improve the quality of life of his family, or similar excuses?”</p>
<p>Well, would any of that influence your thinking if he was stealing bread, or medicine for his sick child?</p>
<p>Because the goal is cheap labor. There is a cycle of perpetual illiteracy and poverty for many of these uneducated illegal immigrants who have arrived in the US during the past 20 years. The HS drop-out rates for these immigrants and their children is very high, and many of them do resort to gangs and crime, in the same way that the other poor in the cities do. </p>
<p>We are creating and adding to the poor and uneducated populations, and the welfare and Medicaid rolls, with much of this new immigration. Many of them go back and forth to their countries, sending out billions of dollars to bolster the economy of their countries.</p>
<p>On the other hand, we screen and have quotas for educated immigrants, and allow them limited visas. </p>
<p>I think in the next 20 years, we will be supporting many more poor people, with an increased prison population. The economy can’t support all of these uneducated immigrants and their offspring. Sure, some will become educated and assimilated, but there are areas of cities like LA and NY where their HS drop-out rate is more than 30-50% and they are doomed to be a burden on the taxpayer and the prison system.</p>
<p>“Well, would any of that influence your thinking if he was stealing bread, or medicine for his sick child?”</p>
<p>Well, since it’s usually addictive, illegal drugs, or stealing or selling drugs to buy a new fancy SUV, that’s not the case.</p>
<p>In our county alone, more than 100 languages are represented in our schools. They have translators available for 5 different languages, and have over 16,000 students in our ESOL programs. All free, of course. </p>
<p>When I worked for county social services, we had a large number of immigrant clients - especially Hispanic and Vietnamese. They were masters at circumventing laws and working the system. Some benefits, for example, are increased for single parent households, so many husbands/significant others tended to hide during visits, and their income ignored. (Kids who didn’t know better would often affirm that daddy lived there.) When workers attempted to get clarification or press the issue, suddenly all we got were confused looks and “I don’t understand.” To imply that immigrants (legal or not) only “give” and don’t take seems naiive. </p>
<p>Not only have I worked within public schools, welfare, and mental health systems here, but I have also lived as a foreigner. The US is much friendlier to foreigners.</p>
<p>In Germany, I had to present a police report from my hometown, statements from my insurance company, copies of my passport and visas, proof of insurance (every citizen has to have personal liability insurance), a handful of photographs, and I had to register with the city, who kept all this info on file. (Some cities require doctor’s records, to, with HIV tests.) This wasn’t done because I was a foreigner - this is done for every single inhabitant of Germany. I had to present this proof of registration to be allowed to rent an apartment or conduct business. Not saying I want the US to be like that, but just trying to point out that I think many folks come to the US because it’s a lot easier and more lucrative and lower risk to do so.</p>
<p>They don’t offer GSOL (German for speakers…) either. They just flunk kids until they’re fluent enough to pass. Put a bit of pressure on my D to hurry up and learn!</p>