U.S. government loses immigrant identity-theft case

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An illegal immigrant who uses false identification papers must know they belonged to another person to be convicted of identity theft, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday.

The high court's unanimous ruling was a victory for Ignacio Flores-Figueroa, a Mexican illegal immigrant who used false identification to get a job at a steel plant in Illinois.

He was convicted of aggravated identify theft, a law adopted in 2004 that carries a mandatory two-year prison term. The law has been increasingly used by the federal government to charge some of those arrested in raids at work sites that employ illegal immigrants.

In the high court's opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer said the law required that prosecutors show that the defendant knew the counterfeit identification belonged to another person.

The ruling, a defeat for the U.S. Justice Department, resolved conflicting appeals court decisions on the issue, and limits prosecutors' ability to pile identify charges on to illegal immigration cases.

Defense lawyers had argued their clients should not be charged with identity theft. They sought the documentation only to allow them to work and did not know if the numbers were fictitious or had actually belonged to someone else.

The ruling is not expected to affect prosecutions of non-immigration identity-theft cases. Defendants who steal Social Security number for financial gain know they are victimizing a real person.

The ruling comes at a time when President Barack Obama is reviewing how to crack down on illegal immigration.

Flores-Figueroa, a Mexican citizen employed at the steel plant since 2000, initially worked under an assumed name and false Social Security and immigration registration numbers.

In 2006, he told his employer he wanted to be known by his real name and submitted new identification documents.

But it turned out the new set of numbers belonged to other people and the suspicious employer contacted immigration authorities, who arrested Flores-Figueroa.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of misuse of immigration documents and one count of illegally entering the United States, resulting in a 51-month sentence. He faced deportation after serving his term. continues here

You read that right:

Justice Stephen Breyer said the law required that prosecutors show that the defendant knew the counterfeit identification belonged to another person

and they say the law works for the people…

Illegal immigrant firebombs homes in attack

AN ILLEGAL immigrant fire-bombed two homes in a terrifying revenge attack.

Tatenda Murenha, 27, struck in the dead of night following a long-running feud with people associated with Hemp Nation shop, in Heaton, Newcastle.

Murenha despised worker David Hildrew because he was passing information to the police about him, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

So he plotted his revenge and set about building a number of petrol bombs out of beer bottles in his home in St Anthony’s House, in the Byker Wall, Newcastle.

The court heard the failed asylum seeker wanted to send a warning to his enemy and the attacks followed a number of confrontations.

Prosecutor Paul Caulfield said Murenha had thrown water through Mr Hildrew’s letterbox six weeks earlier, along with a box of matches and a note threatening “next time it’s for real”.

Then, in the early hours of December 19 last year, Mr Hildrew heard four loud cracks in the backyard of his home in Spencer Street, Heaton, Newcastle.

Mr Caulfield said: “Mr Hildrew went to his kitchen window and was astounded to see the entire yard ablaze. There was a strong smell of petrol.”

A passing police officer heard the sound of breaking glass and chased after Murenha as he ran towards Chillingham Road.

He saw Murenha pull out two more petrol bombs and throw them at the Hemp Nation shop where Jason Brown was asleep upstairs.

Mr Caulfield said: “Fortunately for him, although substantial damage was caused to the shop window, he was oblivious to the fact the defendant had attacked his premises.”

PC Ronald Thompson followed Murenha and confronted him, spraying him with CS gas and hitting him with a baton as he struggled to restrain him.

Murenha continued to resist arrest and threatened one of the officers at the police station, saying: “I’m going to do to your family what I tried to do tonight,” the court heard. continues here

Illegal Iraqi immigrant used fake identity card

"Because Iraq is not deemed a safe country for deportation, Solomon will be allowed to stay in Britain".

AN ILLEGAL immigrant from Iraq who used a fake Belgian residence card he bought "off a man on a bus" to obtain work in Sheffield has been spared jail.
Sheffield Crown Court heard Rashid Solomon, aged 38, now living in Grimesthorpe, gave up his job as soon as his British wife discovered he was working illegally.

He had only been working for three months.

The court was told Solomon, described as a "clandestine illegal immigrant" but of otherwise good character, was not caught out until six months later, in December, when the agency he had been working for checked the details of people it had employed......Article conts (-)

Illegal migrant had Parliament job

An illegal Brazilian immigrant who disappeared in 2004 worked as a cleaner inside the Houses of Parliament for nearly two months, it has emerged.

Elaine Chaves Aparecida, 31, was only caught last week as she tried to gain access using someone else's security pass.

The latest highly-embarrassing lapse to hit the Government is revealed in a confidential memo to Home Office minister Liam Byrne that was leaked to the Sunday Telegraph. And the document advises ministers to keep quiet about the incident unless asked by the media "given recent coverage of security guards employed illegally at Government offices".

In December a member of security staff at the Home Office itself was arrested after being exposed as an illegal immigrant. The memo, marked "restricted", was sent on the day of the arrest, January 31, by Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) regional director Tony Smith to the minister and BIA chief Lin Homer.

It said post-arrest checks found that Ms Aparecida was known to the authorities, having fled officials at Heathrow airport in December 2004 before they could bar her entry to the UK. Despite that, she had "started work at the Houses of Parliament on 3 December 2007 as an employee of Emprise Services", it said.

The official admitted that at the time of writing, he did not have details of the pass or who it belonged to "but enquiries are ongoing".

A new pass system has been introduced to Parliament this year which requires a pin code to be entered in order to gain entry. Under the heading "handling/level of controversy" the memo gives guidance which is bound to spark claims of an attempted cover-up of the major security breach......Article conts (-)