Can My Employer Turn Me In?

The Fed's now have a web tool that can check the legal status of new hires at any business. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services tells they have made bigger their current web based system. This system allows an employer to check legal status of newly hired people. Already 23,000 employers have signed on to use the system with more coming on every day.

The system uses E-Verify, USCIS Director Emilio Gonzalez says. It allows employers to compare the Green Card photo or their Employment Authorization Document, against the photo's database.

And they're expanding. The E-Verify system by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service will include comparison photos from other legal documents like drivers licenses and passports.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce says the system is inaccurate and rejects some that are legally authorized to work in the United States. We say no system is perfect and they shouldn't throw the baby out with the proverbial bathwater.

Prince William County Illegal Immigration Measure

If you remember, it wasn't so long ago that the officials in Prince William County, Virginia had their hands slapped for taking immigration law into their own hands. But today one of the nation's toughest local crackdowns was unanimously approved to control illegal immigration by lawmakers there. A 12-hour hearing included testimony and a few shouting matches.

What Can the Police Do to Illegal Immigrants?

What will happen is the county now has the authority to deny some services to illegal aliens, like business licenses, assistance for housing and services for older people. It was the Board of Supervisors that sent money to the police department in Prince William County so they would have the manpower to check if a person was here legally, or not.

Can I Sue the Police for Questioning an Illegal Immigrant?

Already twenty-two plaintiffs have filed a lawsuit in federal court trying to block the new law. They say these measures simply violate equal protection laws - and since the Feds aren't doing much in the way of immigration - immigration enforcement, according to them, should be a federal matter.

The reason the meeting took so long is because there were over 400 residents, many who spoke for and against the new measure - this went past 2 AM Wednesday morning. And there was turmoil in the streets as opposing sides clashed before the Tuesday meeting. Some 1200 people crowded near the government complex. Many were children of immigrants asking board members as they passed by not to hurt their parents. One woman ran out of the meeting in tears saying this measure would cause the separation of her and her daughter.

So that racial profiling doesn't start to take place in Prince William County, supervisors added a resolution addressing the cost, fairness and public confusion. There will be a public education campaign for the immigrant communities that will allow them to learn more in their own language locally. Still, discrimination may ensue.

Supporters of the new measure claim illegal aliens are breaking the law. Some ask how they can demand services, rights and mandatory citizenship? Who invited them, they ask. They have no rights - none, cried another.

Deporting Innocent People

We want the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to nab the criminals and gang members and send them packing to their own countries, but what happens when this becomes indiscriminate and some undocumented immigrants who some deem good get caught up in the chaos?

Many feel that the Bush administration has to do something now about these raids which as we've reported, separate families, and it creates a great fear in the neighborhood - this by Federal Agents (ICE) - local polices efforts are undermined as they trust parts of the illegal immigrant community.

In Mountain View, California, the arrest of Catholic youth pastor, Lucio Caciano Miranda, has started a controversy. He was handcuffed and detained in a raid last week at his home in nearby Sunnyvale. He was release but pending further hearings which might lead to his deportation. ICE officials probably had a warrant for a previous resident at Miranda's address - and he was caught up because he is undocumented.

Miranda has been in the U.S. for 15 years as a gardener. And he also works with the youth at church. He has a GED diploma that he worked for here. And he trained three years at the San Jose Diocese to become a lay minister. Trying to become part of the community, yet at the same time we have no word on whether he was trying to become legal here.

ICE has recently stepped up their mission after Congress failed to pass the comprehensive immigration reform bill. ICE does a great job with felons and gang members, but at times people simply without documents yet trying to do good get caught in the snare. Many officials in cities throughout the country have called on ICE to calm down their raids.

Can Illegal Immigrants Get Loans?

While you're suffering from the stress of a subprime mortgage, hoping that you never slide into foreclosure, there is a group that is doing surprisingly well in the mortgage market.

We're talking about home loans to illegal immigrants. Who knows whether these loans will continue to hang in there; many things could snowball - government crackdown on illegal workers, and with an already tight job market, a squeeze on jobs for undocumented workers. No work - these illegals will likely default. We already see some signs of a "slow down" - mainly, creditors raising rates because of the recent problems in the credit world.

These mortgages are known as ITIN mortgages. If you work in the business, you know what we're talking about: people filing for a mortgage must have an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, and they have to prove they can somehow pay the loan back, naturally - plus pay taxes even though they don't have a U.S. address (well, until they get the house - but even then, not a legal address, no?)

These loans are only a small percentage of the $2.8 trillion mortgage market. Yet, come to think of it, they are one of the bright spots in this dark and mysterious industry.

ITIN loans 90 days behind are rare; only 0.5 percent. Compare that to 1 percent of prime mortgages and 9.3 percent with those subprime mortgages. Indeed, lenders who go after this type of mortgage want them to last forever. Since the default level is almost zero, what do they have to lose?

Illegal aliens normally use an fake Social Security number so they can get a job. We've seen several workers who clean local restaurants at night, such as Calistoga Bakery in Naples, Florida, knowingly use false documents. These same people can pay taxes with a nine digit number the IRS has been issuing since 1997 just so foreigners who are not legal to get a Social Security number can pay taxes.

Of course, the IRS wants everyone possible to pay taxes, file an income tax return, regardless of who they are. Banks began accepting the ITIN number for mortgages around 2000. Why they are a better risk is because initially, the illegal immigrants are required to produce more paperwork, undergo more scrutiny than normal workers. Some banks even check checking accounts to see where the money is going.

Yes, it is possible for illegal aliens to get mortgages. And it turns out, they are a better risk than most legals. What do you think?