News You Can Use

NY Attorney General Expands Investigation Into Illegimiate Immigration Legal and Consulting Organizations.

NEW YORK, NY (September 21, 2009) - Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that - as part of his office’s expanding investigation into immigration fraud - he is issuing more than thirty additional subpoenas to organizations and individuals accused of engaging in fraudulent immigration business practices.  The organizations and individuals allegedly pose as legitimate immigration service providers and provide legal services that they are not authorized to perform. The subpoenas issued today demand documents and testimony from the organizations and individuals within thirty days.  “This expanding investigation continues to uncover evidence that organizations and individuals disregard the law and give unauthorized legal advice to New York’s immigrant communities,” said Attorney General Cuomo.  “The consequences of bad legal advice can devastate individuals and their families, threatening their
citizenship and chances for a life in this country. Today’s subpoenas broaden our investigation to nearly 100 entities across the five boroughs and underscore our commitment to finding and prosecuting unauthorized service providers that disregard the rights of people trying to make this country their home.”  Subpoenas were issued today to the following organizations and several of their principals: Amanda C.
Gillespie Inc., Mister Enry’s Consulting Services Ltd., Immigrants United Foundation, Immigration Specialist Helpline, Yours and Yours Only, Simply Different, Lian Tong Services, American Corporate Society, Mendez Accounting and Tax Service Corp., New York Novelties, North America Immigrant Services, Inc. d/b/a North America Immigration Consulting Corp., Omnipoint Naturalization Center, National Foundation for New Americans, Simply Done Immigration, Tamizdat Inc., Tanc. Inc., Worldwide Immigration Consultation Services, Baocheng Immigration Service Center, American Assessment Association, Xiu's Restoring Center, and JP Consulting Services.

Immigration Policy Center Report Debunks Myths Surrounding Immigrants' Impact on Health Care Reform

A recent report from the Immigration Policy Center entitled "Health Care: Sharing the Costs, Sharing the Benefits" addresses some of the misconceptions concerning the impact of new immigrants on health care reform. The more people who pay into a system of health insurance, the more everyone benefits. An important function of health insurance is to pool risks and use premiums collected from the healthy to pay for the medical care of those who need it.

U.S. citizens make up the majority of those who are uninsured. U.S. citizens make up the majority of the uninsured (78%), while legal and undocumented immigrants account for 22% of the nonelderly uninsured.

Immigrants do not impose a disproportionate financial burden on the U.S. health care system. According to a July 2009 study in the American Journal of Public Health, immigrants use less medical care, and less expensive care, even when they have health insurance.

Immigrants' per-person medical expenditures were one-half to two-thirds less than U.S.-born citizens with similar characteristics. Health care costs for the average immigrant in America are 55% lower than health care costs for the average U.S.-born person. Another study found that, in 2005, average annual per capita health care expenditures for noncitizens were $1,797 versus $3,702 for U.S. citizens.

Finally, recent immigrants were responsible for 1.4% of total public medical expenditures for adults in 2003, even though they constituted 5% of the population.

Unanimous U.S. Supreme Court Rules in Identity Theft Case that  Prosecutors Must Show "Knowledge" by Immigrant Defendant that Social Security Number is Stolen

Washington, DC - May 4, 2009

A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Federal government's efforts to overreach in prosecutions of immigrant workers. The Court held that to convict a defendant of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison, the government must establish that the person knew the identification belonged to another person.

"The Court sent a clear message that the government must not misuse a criminal statute intended to combat actual identity theft in order to drop a hammer on unauthorized workers," said Nadine Wettstein, Director of the Legal Action Center.

In the case before the Court, a worker, Ignacio Flores-Figueroa, had given his employer counterfeit Social Security and alien registration cards in order to continue working. The government charged Flores with misusing immigration documents, but also elevated the charges by including a charge of aggravated identity theft. The government argued that to convict on that charge, it did not have to prove that Flores knew the number actually belonged to another person.

The Court disagreed. It rejected the government's claim that it would be too hard
to prove a defendant knew the identification belonged to someone else. Significantly,
the Court said that when the government properly charges defendants with this crime,
the government should have no difficulty proving "knowledge: "...[I]n the classic case of identity theft, intent is generally not difficult to prove. For example, where a defendant has used another person's identification information to get access to that person's bank account, the Government can prove knowledge with little difficulty. The same is true when the defendant has gone through someone else's trash to find discarded credit card and bank statements..."

DREAM Act Introduction Shows Political Muscle for Immigration Reform;
Legalizing Young Immigrants Would Boost the U.S. Economy

Washington, DC - March 26, 2009

Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) introduced the
Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act; while Representatives Howard Berman (D-CA), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), and Lincoln Diaz-Balart(R-FL) introduced a House version of the bill called the "American Dream Act." Both pieces of bipartisan legislation would permit a limited number of undocumented students to become permanent residents if they came here as children, are long-term U.S. residents, have good moral character, and attend college or enlist in the military for at least two years. The following is a statement by Angela Kelley, Director of the Immigration Policy Center (IPC) in Washington, DC.

"With yesterday's bipartisan introduction of the DREAM Act, the House and Senate
delivered yet another signal that the political tide for immigration reform is
getting stronger. The bill seeks to remedy the predicament of a specific group of undocumented children who are blocked from realizing their full potential. By providing a path to U.S. citizenship, the DREAM Act would allow these children to pursue a higher education and contribute fully to our economy."

Immigrants Contribute More Taxes Than Public Services They Use

At the State level, undocumented immigrants still pay more in taxes than they use in public services.  The Texas State Comptroller determined in a 2006 study that undocumented immigrants produced $1.58 billion in state revenues, exceeding the $1.16 billion they received in state services.  The Oregon Center for Public Policy in 2007 estimated that undocumented immigrants pay state income, excise property taxes, federal Social Security and Medicare taxes totaling between $134 to $187 million annually.  Oregon employers paid an estimated $97 million to $136 million annually on behalf of their undocumented workers.  The Iowa Policy Project determined that undocumented immigrants pay an estimated aggregate amount of $40 to $62 million in state taxes each year.  Immigrants also make tax contributions through their enormous purchsing power.  In a 2002 study by the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Chicago, researchers found that undocumented immigrants in the Chicago metro area spent $2.81 billion in 2001 which sustained 31,908 jobs in the local economy.