A recent article regarding a Texas hospital turning in an illegal immigrant applicant to authorities glosses over one of the most serious crimes in our country.
According to reports, when Maria Martinez tried to use a counterfeit Social Security number on her job application to a cafeteria at a Dallas-area hospital, the staff reported it to the authorities. Martinez was arrested, jailed and ultimately deported.
Amnesty advocates and Martinez’s supporters criticize the hospital for overreacting, saying it is not the responsibility of employers to report criminal activity.
Such criticism ignores the fact that law enforcement officials often rely on tips from the public in order to solve crimes, regardless of their nature. Ms. Martinez knowingly purchased a fake Social Security card and claimed it as her own.
At the very least she could be prosecuted for using a fraudulent document to obtain employment and at most she could be prosecuted for identity theft — a crime that affects 9 million Americans annually, costs billions of dollars and ultimately ruins lives.
If, as the Associated Press states, “the Martinez case raises questions about what employers can or should do if they discover an applicant is not authorized to work legally in the U.S.,” then the case of Lora and Jayme Costner should answer them.
In April 2004, Lora and Jayme Costner were living their American dream. They had a happy marriage, were financially comfortable, and had recently acquired custody of Lora’s biological niece.
They never saw what happened next until it was too late. Douglas Valdez, an illegal immigrant, obtained their personal information from the adoption paperwork and stole their identities.
The Costners had no idea until a year later when they received notice of an arrest warrant for Lora’s husband. They spent a year tracking down Valdez with little help from local law enforcement.
Despite assurances that he would be deported, the authorities released Valdez less than 30 days later. The Costners knew this because that’s when he began making threatening calls to their home. The authorities did nothing, so the Costners were left to protect their family as best they could.
But the nightmare didn’t end there. In 2007, Lora discovered that her identity also had been stolen. Another illegal immigrant, Elizabeth Bautista Velasco, had been using Lora’s maiden name and Social Security number for two years while working at Koch Foods in Tennessee.
She, too, was charged with a misdemeanor and released. Two weeks later, the Internal Revenue Service contacted the Costners demanding nearly $8,000 in back taxes for wages they had not earned.
They spent several months trying to prove that they had been victims of identity theft. After four years, the Costners have finally concluded that they will never fully reclaim their identities.
The nightmare that the Costner family has been living could have been prevented. Law enforcement officials should have deported Valdez, and Koch Foods should have ensured that its employees were legal residents in the United States.
Congress has provided both the government and American companies with the tools necessary to do this. In 1996, Congress authorized E-Verify, a proven, effective program that helps American employers follow the law. More than 69,000 businesses currently use the program and more are signing up every day.
Enforcing immigration laws is not just about border security or the growing number of illegal immigrants coming into the United States annually.
It’s not just about protecting the American worker by ensuring that jobs are reserved for legal residents. Immigration enforcement is also about preventing crime. The Costner family has suffered because their government let them down.
So, despite the criticism, the hospital did the right thing by turning in Ms. Martinez. They simply reported a crime and potentially saved another American from falling victim to identity theft.
Emotions should not obscure the facts about illegal immigration. Laws exist to protect people, and failing to enforce them puts all Americans at risk.
Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, is the ranking minority member of the House Judiciary Committee and former chairman of the subcommittee on immigration.
