Today’s
commentary focuses on the successful prosecution of an illegal alien
from Mexico, Victor Lopez-Escamilla aka “Mango Chupado,” and “Ventura,”
for producing and selling fraudulent identity documents including
counterfeit Alien Registration Cards (Green Cards) and Social Security
Cards as reported in an ICE news release.
In order to produce documents that could enable his illegal alien
customers to game the immigration system and secure employment
Lope-Escamilla engaged in identity theft.  Here is yet another example
of how illegal immigration is anything but a “victimless crime!”

It is important to note that terrorists and criminals are eager to
acquire false identities as an embedding tactic that enables them to
hide in plain sight.

The news release stated that more than 250 people had their
identities stolen as a result of his criminal scheme which purportedly
netted him $140,000.00.  Certainly the successful prosecution of this
document vendor is worthwhile, but when you consider that there are
millions of illegal aliens who are working in violation of the
immigration laws in the United States and that many of them have been
able to purchase fraud documents in order to work illegally in the
United States, there is scant comfort to be taken from the report of a
single document vendor who apparently sold a relatively small number of
false documents.

Here are additional points that are important to consider:

Those who purchased the documents were themselves, illegal aliens. 
Yet there was absolutely no mention of any of these illegal alien
“customers” being apprehended, prosecuted or being deported.  By
purchasing these documents, these illegal aliens became
co-conspirators.  By not taking action against these law violators, an
opportunity to deter illegal immigration and crimes that illegal aliens
commit was lost.  Indeed, by not pursuing these individuals quite the
contrary happens, illegal aliens are encouraged to violate our borders
and our laws.

The administration may tout how many Border Patrol agents have been
hired and issue absurd  assertions about the “border being secure,” but
by not arresting illegal aliens the administration provides incentives
and encouragement to ever more illegal aliens to enter the United States
in one way or another and violate the immigration laws designed to
protect American lives and American jobs.

While the TSA has more than 60,000 employees subjecting airline
passengers to ever increasing scrutiny, ICE has all of 7,000 special
agents and more than half of them are assigned to conduct investigations
of violations of customs laws.  Illegal aliens may well be playing a
game of “Hide and Seek” but the administration has decided to not really
seek, but to just pretend to be interested in that game!

This problem is further exacerbated when cities and states promulgate
“Sanctuary policies” to shield illegal aliens from detection by ICE. 
If there were no illegal aliens in the United States seeking false
identity documents, there would be little or no business for fraud
document vendors who often commit identity theft, further victimizing
lawful immigrants and United States citizens.

Enactment of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA)
gave rise to a cottage industry, the production of false identity
documents.  These documents are the lynchpins that hold the immigration
system together under the provisions of IRCA.  Yet the federal
government never addressed this obvious Achilles Heel in the system.  No
meaningful numbers of additional immigration law enforcement personnel
were ever hired to address this serious vulnerability and no routine
inservice training was ever implemented to help those agents on the job
to combat this serious hole in the system.

For  Victor Lopez-Escamilla, his document mill was, indeed, a
“cottage industry.”  According to the news release he actually produced
the documents he sold on the streets of Baltimore, in his bedroom!

ICE often issues news releases to convince us that all is well and
that the laws are being enforced.  These releases are the equivalent of
the tactics used by a used car salesman who spray paints a rusted,
wheezing engine under the hood of an old beat up car and then turns back
the speedometer to further enhance the illusion that the car is
roadworthy!

Illusions will not protect our nation or our citizens.  Blue smoke
and mirrors do not constitute an effective barrier against those who
would enter our country and do us harm!