Identity sales a less-known part of immigration debate

Carolyn Hileman* | March 3, 2007

HARLINGEN, Texas — When a federal judge in Corpus Christi asked 22-year-old Rosie Medellin why she sold her birth certificate, she said she needed a few bucks and didn’t really think it through.Margarita Moya, 68, and her son, Felix, 37, told the judge they sold their documents to buy medicine for a loved one. Bobby Joe Flores, 22, said he sold his birth certificate and Social Security card to support a drug habit.

It’s no secret that millions of illegal immigrants hold jobs with fraudulent identities. Government raids at meatpacking plants in six states in December stemmed from an investigation that uncovered up to 4,300 workers with questionable documentation.

But the government’s focus has been on theft or fabrication of identity documents, and federal officials say they know little about people who sell their own legitimate documents to people in other states.

In all, seven defendants from the Corpus Christi area pleaded guilty this week to selling their birth certificate and Social Security card for $100 each. Seven more defendants pleaded guilty to buying or reselling the documents as part of a ring that sold documents to illegal immigrants seeking jobs in Dodge City, Kansas.

The defendants face anywhere from probation to five years in prison.

Prosecutors declined to talk about the case pending a May sentencing hearing in front of U.S. District Judge Hayden Head Jr.

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