VivirLatino

Roosevelt Avenue Document Raid Hasn't Stopped Business

15:55 H | Topics: Immigration - Justice - New York City

This morning on my local Telemundo station there was a report about undocumented workers buying false documents in California. Specifically in one case the social security number of a toddler was used and her credit was already in shambles because of it.

It is stories such as these that have prompted a crackdown on false documents in immigrant centers. Just a few weeks ago there was a huge raid not to far from where I live, on Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights, Queens. In that raid many were arrested for selling and buying false ids and other documents. But some claim that not everyone arrested was involved in false documents. And while the raid has upped the level of fear, it hasn't stopped the false documents business in the area.

Spanish-language news reports cited witnesses saying that dozens of immigrants—possibly as many as 100—who had nothing to do with the fake IDs were also swept up in the raid. Witness Rodrigo Arce told the Spanish-language television news channel Telemundo that agents used plastic netting to trap people who were standing there talking or passing by. "They were asking people to show documents"

Living close to the area, as a Latina, makes getting caught up in such a raid a reality. I know I try and make sure to always have id on me even though legally I am not required to.

Fear aside, as of just this past weekend, it is fairly easy to still get a fake social security card on Roosevelt Avenue for as little as $50. The fake cards, lack the relief that the real cards do, and the paper onto which the fake cards are printed on is a little thicker than a real social security card. To an untrained eye ( I had to pull out my own SS card to compare) the fakes can pass and do pass.

Via / WW4 Report

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