During a discussion on immigration reform on CBS This Morning, Senator John McCain said: "People who have not committed a crime here or done something wrong will have a legal status …."
Either Senator McCain misspoke or he plans to deny legal status to roughly three quarters (75%) of the estimated eleven million illegal aliens in the United States who use illegally obtained Social Security numbers in order to get jobs and other benefits since these people have done something wrong and they have committed a federal crime (felony Social Security fraud).
But that is not all. Illegal aliens who have completed I-9 forms have committed perjury which is another federal felony.
And if the fraudulently obtained Social Security numbers used by illegal aliens belong to American citizens, the illegal aliens have committed felony identity theft and felony forgery under state laws.
These employment related felonies will be easily spotted when illegal aliens apply for legal status assuming they have to provide employment, earnings and income tax documents.
Employment related crimes are such a serious problem that previous immigration reform proposals have promised illegal aliens that they wouldn’t be held accountable for committing them.
The reform proposals specifically prohibited federal employees who would have been responsible for processing illegal aliens’ applications for legal status from reporting crimes committed. If any employee reported such a crime, she would be subject to a $10,000 fine.
Senator McCain will likely say that he misspoke and really meant that only illegal aliens convicted of a crime will be ineligible for legal status and an eventual path to citizenship.
However, McCain has opened a can of worms because proponents of legalization must now explain why millions of illegal aliens who routinely commit employment related felonies will be granted amnesty from their felony crimes.
They will also have to explain why they are turning their backs on the millions of innocent Americans, including an estimated 50,000 Utah children, who are victims of illegal alien, employment related identity theft.
Many of these innocent victims have had their good names destroyed, credit ruined, medical records corrupted with possible life threatening consequences, arrest records attached to their names, been pursued by the IRS for unpaid taxes on income earned on their Social Security numbers by illegal aliens and/or been denied Medicaid or other government benefits.
McCain’s statement raises very timely and important issues that will have to be addressed if immigration reform is to provide both mercy for millions of illegal aliens who have committed felonies and justice for the victims of their crimes.
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