Two federal agencies are refusing to turn over a mountain of
evidence that investigators could use to indict the nation's burgeoning
workforce of illegal immigrants and the firms that employ them.
Last week, immigration cops trumpeted the arrests of nearly 1,200
illegal workers in a massive sting on a single company, but they admit
that they relied on old-fashioned confidential informants and an
unsolicited tip to get their investigation going.
It didn't have to be that hard.
The IRS and the Social Security Administration routinely collect
strong evidence of potential workplace crimes, including names and
addresses of millions of people who are using bogus Social Security
numbers, their wage records and the identities of the bosses who
knowingly hire them.
But they keep those facts secret.
"If the government bothered to look, it could find abundant evidence
of illegal aliens gaming our system and the unscrupulous employers who
are aiding and abetting them," said Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz.
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.
Privacy laws, they say, prohibit them from sharing their files with anyone, except in rare criminal investigations.
But the agencies don't even use the power they have.
12:01:56 PM  PermaLink /
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