Immigrants-rights lawyers object to this use of the identity theft laws. "It's a heavy-handed tactic. The threat of an extra two years in prison can force them to accept deportation without a hearing," said Jean Butterfield, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Assn.
But such a use makes sense, Stein said. "He knew the Social Security number he was using was not his own," he said of the defendant, noting that immigrants can delay their deportation by fighting their cases through the immigration system. A criminal conviction with a long prison term "gives leverage to the government."
The court is expected to hear arguments in Flores-Figueroa vs. U.S. in January but will not rule until a new administration has taken office.
Last year, the Bush administration launched a more aggressive drive to pursue illegal immigrant workers and the companies that hire them.
After Congress failed to pass immigration reform in June 2007, officials at the Department of Homeland Security warned that they would begin using all the tools at their disposal to enforce existing immigration law.
One of the first major uses of identity theft charges occurred in January 2007, when 53 employees held in raids of meatpacking plants the previous month were criminally charged. Since then, Homeland Security has ratcheted up use of the tactic, culminating in a May 2008 raid at an Iowa meatpacking plant in which 389 illegal immigrants were arrested and nearly 300 were sentenced for document fraud.
--
david.savage@latimes.com
Times staff writer Nicole Gaouette contributed to this report.
