Posted by: McQ on Monday, April 24, 2006 I'm sure there are those who will view this story as nothing more than bureaucratic ineptness. I'm sure that has some measure of truth to it. However, there is more to it than that. This is an example of government agencies ignoring the law of the land and, in doing so, being complicit in protecting those who, in many cases, are openly flaunting the law. Knight Ridder reports that both the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration have mountains of evidence which could be used to identify illegal immigrants and those who knowingly employ them, but won't share the information: The two agencies don't analyze their data to root out likely immigration fraud, and they won't share their millions of records so that law enforcement agencies can do that, either.I'm still puzzled why "privacy laws" can be cited as a reason to refuse to provide information which clearly points to fraud and criminal wrongdoing. Some of the examples given are so obvious that it would seem that the companies involved don't even bother to try to hide their lawbreaking: One internal study found that a restaurant company had submitted 4,100 duplicate Social Security numbers for workers. Other firms submit inaccurate names or numbers reports for nearly all of their employees. One child's Social Security number was used 742 times by workers in 42 states.That's simply flaunting the law, and both agencies appear complicit in aiding in that endeavor. 4,100 duplicate Social Security numbers isn't a mistake or something that was overlooked. It is an attempt to defraud. And it seems the "privacy concerns" only work one way: Social Security does virtually nothing to alert citizens whose Social Security numbers are being used by others.For someone who's been a victim of identity theft, let me tell you, it's no picnic. A federal agency who has the information and the means to determine that identity theft is happening and does nothing to alert the person or persons being harmed is, at best derelict in its duty, and at worst, criminally negligent (and complicit in the crime). All of this has come to light because Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security Secretary, has asked Congress for access to these files. I for one say Congress should grant that access. That's if we're actually serious about being a "nation of laws". |
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