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School supplies fake Social Security numbers to teachers

By Michelle Malkin  •  November 14, 2008 09:39 AM

Yes, you read that right. A school district in Dallas has been caught supplying fake Social Security numbers to employees. And it’s been going on for years. The Dallas News won’t come out and say it, but it’s blindingly obvious this school district was cooking up fake Social Security numbers for illegal alien teachers (referred to in the report as “foreign educators”). Which means they committed at least three crimes: ID fraud, hiring illegal aliens, and felonious aiding/abetting illegal aliens.

And then they tried to cover it up.

Your tax dollars at work:

Years after being advised by a state agency to stop, the Dallas Independent School District continued to provide foreign citizens with fake Social Security numbers to get them on the payroll quickly.
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Some of the numbers were real Social Security numbers already assigned to people elsewhere. And in some cases, the state’s educator certification office unknowingly used the bogus numbers to run criminal background checks on the new hires, most of whom were brought in to teach bilingual classes.

The practice was described in an internal report issued in September by the district’s investigative office, which looked into the matter after receiving a tip. The report said the Texas Education Agency learned of the fake numbers in 2004 and told DISD then that the practice “was illegal.”

It’s unclear how long DISD had been issuing the phony numbers, and district officials didn’t know Thursday how many had been given out. But the investigative report and interviews with DISD employees indicate the practice went on for several years before it was discontinued this past summer.

DISD human resources chief Kim Olson, who came to the district in 2007, said that she learned about the false numbers this past summer around the time the district’s investigative unit was looking into them and that she put a stop to the practice.

“There’s no way we should be doing that kind of stuff,” Ms. Olson said. “Even if your intention is good to help employees get paid, you can’t use inappropriate procedures to do that.”

Wait, it gets worse:

Also, when investigators reviewed a sampling of personnel files, they learned that the fake numbers were entered on Department of Homeland Security and IRS forms. The forms are not transmitted outside the district but are made available to the appropriate federal agency upon request.

In July, the district discovered that 26 of the false numbers were in use after matching DISD employee Social Security numbers with the Social Security Administration database. The numbers were already being used in Pennsylvania. DISD officials did not know Thursday whether the practice had caused problems for anyone holding the legitimate numbers.

The district’s investigative unit, called the Office of Professional Responsibility, began looking into the fake numbers after the Texas Education Agency’s division of educator investigations advised the unit in July that it had discovered the district issuing false numbers in 2004.

That year, the TEA division became aware of the practice when DISD faxed copies of about 100 new Social Security Administration cards for foreign citizens – most of whom had been assigned district-issued numbers – and asked TEA to replace the old numbers, according to the investigative report. The state office told DISD at the time that it’s illegal to make up Social Security numbers and pass them off as legitimate, the report says.

Wait, it gets even worse:

The investigative report also found that the district hasn’t been turning in “new hire” forms to the Texas attorney general’s office, which uses the information to find parents who haven’t paid child support. Failure to provide the forms to the attorney general can result in a $25 fine for each employee. The district doesn’t know yet whether it will have to pay any fines.

Ms. Olson said new processes have been put in place to address problems noted in the report, including making crosschecks with the Social Security Administration.

“You can’t just arbitrarily issue Social Security numbers,” she said. “Even if your intention is good, it’s not legal.”

So, will there be any consequences? Or will it be non-enforcement business as usual?

Posted in: Immigration

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Comments

Comment pages: « 1 [2]

  1. #101
    On November 14th, 2008 at 12:46 pm, hawkeye54 said:

    Who came her legally, worked hard, didn’t get handouts, and raised their children to be good citizens…and made sure their chldren were able to speak English fluently and write in English out of gratitude and allegiance to the nation that took them in.</blockquote>

    It grates me that many immigrants do not have the courtesy to use the common language of this nation in public when they are able to do so.

  2. #102
    On November 14th, 2008 at 12:48 pm, cheapseat said:

    back in the day when sanity ruled, someone said the road to hell was paved with good intentions. i think i see smoke on the horizon.

  3. #103
    On November 14th, 2008 at 12:52 pm, el_perro said:

    Your point is noted. Although, in all fairness, there is not much detail in the story about the specifics of the individuals initial entry into the country (curiously absent? deliberately omitted?, etc)

    Of course, just because a person entered the country legally at one point, doesn’t confer upon them a right to work here as well. It could well be that many of these people came in on tourists/students/other work visas and then LATER decided to ‘get a job’. That, my friend, is blatantly illegal - as in, ‘illegal immigration’.

    True. But, it also could well be that these people came here on work visas, specifically to work as bilingual teachers in these schools, and (as the school claims) these fake SS#s were simply used as a stop-gap measures until the teachers’ real SS#s were issued. Obviously still extraordinarily illegal and mind-bogglingly stupid (though stupidity is to be expected by school boards these days). But, not necessarily an illegal immigration issue.

    The point here is that we simply don’t know exactly what happened or why. Perhaps we should not jump to conclusions so quickly (something I’ve been guilty of here as well).

  4. #104
    On November 14th, 2008 at 12:57 pm, Dimsdale said:

    Holy Mike Dukakis, Batman!!

    Remember Dukakis’ infamous policy of issuing fake Social Security numbers to illegal aliens so they could go on welfare when they arrived in Massachusetts?

    It’s not an anecdote when they all do it.

  5. #105
    On November 14th, 2008 at 1:04 pm, PhredE said:

    One final note to el_perro -

    Because it does involve foreign nationals and involves a transgression of law, I still stand by my earlier contention that it *is* illegal immigration.

    Please remember that approx. 40% of all persons illegally in the US entered - ostensibly - legally, with some type of visa.

  6. #106
    On November 14th, 2008 at 1:15 pm, 24Klady said:

    We also cannot discount they may have entered the country on an H1-B and failed to go home when their “temp” job was over. But, the need to steal identity is the mystery. Texas is a magnet for large groups from Africa, India, Asia, Central and South America and now Middle East. They may not only be from Mexico (albeit the need for bilinguals in spanish may be the largest group).

  7. #107
    On November 14th, 2008 at 1:44 pm, RedDog said:

    So when can we expect arrests to be made?

  8. #108
    On November 14th, 2008 at 1:50 pm, BelchSpeak said:

    Another crime committed was causing the security office to run background checks on uninterested parties- Those Pennsylvanians who actally had the numbers the Dallas school board were using had their records opened under false pretenses.

  9. #109
    On November 14th, 2008 at 2:05 pm, rambler said:

    Were their degrees bogus too? These taxpayer funded employees have alot of explaining to do. I wonder how many other districts do the same thing. No wonder schools are in the dumper. Noone is following the rules or the laws and these are the people trusted to teach values to our children. I think not!

  10. #110
    On November 14th, 2008 at 2:16 pm, SoCal said:

    On November 14th, 2008 at 1:44 pm, RedDog said:

    So when can we expect arrests to be made?

    America is going bye-bye… get used to it.

  11. #111
    On November 14th, 2008 at 2:44 pm, Danceswithdachshunds said:

    A friend of mine took her 2nd oldest kid to the MA registry of motor vehicles yesterday. When asked for the kid’s SS my friend recited it from a piece of paper she has kept in her wallet for over 19 years. It has the SS and some other data for each of her kids and she’s been using those numbers for school, medical stuff, etc.

    The agent remarked, “I’m sorry but that cannot be your child’s correct SS number. Do you have the SS card?”

    Well, my friend doesn’t have the card for that one kid because they moved right before the time the card would have have been mailed and, as she learned back then, it was returned to the SSA. She was told to request in writing that the card be re-sent to the new address. Unfortunately, my friend never got around to it and then forgot about it..

    So, after the registry visit, she marched down to the nearest SS office to find out what was going on - yes indeed, THAT IS THE CORRECT SS NUMBER. They gave her some sort of official document of that fact to take back to the registry and they also initiated the request to have a card mailed out in a few weeks.

    So what was this RMV agent saying that the number HAD TO BE WRONG? Obviously NOT! Somebody used her kid’s number to get a license and just because they got there first - anyone who tries to use it later is … WRONG?

    I smell the potential for something large and ugly going on that may have been going on for years - illegals grabbing the SS numbers of citizens under the age of 16. Kids don’t open bank accounts, they don’t get their own credit cards, they don’t vote, they don’t get regular jobs, they don’t drive, almost none apply for SSI and, most importantly - THEY ARE ALIVE!

    I’m told that SS numbers of dead people are closely monitored for ID theft but what about kids? It just might be open season on them right now and this experience my friend is going through could be the tip of the iceberg for things to come.

    PSA - If you have children under 16 I think it would be wise to regularly monitor that their SS number is not being used by someone else.

    (I think she’s going back the RMV today with the SSA document so there’s more to come on this story..)

  12. #112
    On November 14th, 2008 at 2:51 pm, Danceswithdachshunds said:

    Dimsdale said:

    Holy Mike Dukakis, Batman!!

    Remember Dukakis’ infamous policy of issuing fake Social Security numbers to illegal aliens so they could go on welfare when they arrived in Massachusetts?

    I forgot about that but always remembered this from him and Kerry, (Kerry wrote it).

    No funds shall be expended by the Commonwealth for crisis
    relocation planning for nuclear war.

  13. #113
    On November 14th, 2008 at 3:15 pm, nlebou said:

    PSA - If you have children under 16 I think it would be wise to regularly monitor that their SS number is not being used by someone else.

    This is why I have purchased LIfeLock for my entire family.

  14. #114
    On November 14th, 2008 at 3:16 pm, Micheleeroo said:

    Amazing that this went on for so long.

  15. #115
    On November 14th, 2008 at 3:33 pm, fred5676 said:

    1. Using someone else’s SS number is a FELONY - ID theft.

    2. Making up a SS number, otherwise never issued by Social Security Admin., is a $250,000 fine.

    Anyone think that our watchful Federal Government is going to enforce any of these laws in Dallas??

    Don’t hold your breath.

  16. #116
    On November 14th, 2008 at 3:38 pm, Lan Astaslem said:

    Testing… is this thing on?

  17. #117
    On November 14th, 2008 at 3:39 pm, JohnnyNJ said:

    All I can say is “unffing” believable…. Just when you think you’ve heard the most outrageous happening in our formerly great republic, up pops a new PC bomb.

  18. #118
    On November 14th, 2008 at 3:42 pm, RabbidSquirrel said:

    But, it also could well be that these people came here on work visas, specifically to work as bilingual teachers in these schools, and (as the school claims) these fake SS#s were simply used as a stop-gap measures until the teachers’ real SS#s were issued.

    Isnt it the Dems that b!tch that there are not enough interpreters in Iraq/Afghanistan? And doesnt the government have to train/process those people to a proper skill level. War seems to be just a little higher priority than kids in a dead end school district.

    Why does DISD feel the need to bypass federal law just so it doesnt have to pay for the training in a “necessary” skill. The 7 P’s dont apply anymore? ‘Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance’

    If assimilation was in place and overwhelming immigration (im going to go with illegal here) was not rampant, then DISD could train and hire the rescources that it needed in a timely manner.

    Dont give me the crap of jumping to conclusions too quickly. This problem has brewed for decades and the government is not shutting it down.

  19. #119
    On November 14th, 2008 at 3:45 pm, RabbidSquirrel said:

    these fake SS#s were simply used as a stop-gap measures until the teachers’ real SS#s were issued

    Really??? So just where do I go to get those temporary fake Social Security numbers? Do I call up the SSA direct? Do I order them online? Do I go to the SSA outlet mall?

    Seriously, Im clueless on this and you seem to have some insight that would be valuable to us all.

  20. #120
    On November 14th, 2008 at 3:46 pm, RabbidSquirrel said:

    On November 14th, 2008 at 3:38 pm, Lan Astaslem said:
    Testing… is this thing on?

    You’re breaking up.. and there’s a lot of static. Hang up and post again…

  21. #121
    On November 14th, 2008 at 3:48 pm, EMT Bill said:

    Having one taxing entity fine another taxing entity makes no sense.

    Sending someone to jail makes sense.

  22. #122
    On November 14th, 2008 at 3:50 pm, Lan Astaslem said:

    Forgive me if this is a double-post. I tried a few minutes ago, and it did not show up. I’ll try splitting it up and posting again…

    Okay el perro — and any other doubters out there. I decided to do a little research — primarily on DISD’s own blog — and here’s what I found!

    It sounds like DISD has been actively seeking illegal immigrants to teach in the classrooms.

    Before former DISD trustee Joe May died in February 2006, he proposed that DISD hire illegal immigrants to ease its shortage of bilingual teachers — with the idea that some of those teachers would be former DISD students.

    So they did just that:

    Since 2006, the district has trained 664 bilingual teachers through its alternative certification training program. Many of them were recruited from abroad and include 346 teachers who came to the U.S. on H-1B work visas.

    Hmmm… As an engineer, I’ve had my share of math classes. 664 – 346 = 318, right?

  23. #123
    On November 14th, 2008 at 3:51 pm, Lan Astaslem said:

    Next segment:

    If that’s not enough, these teachers are complaining that they never received laptops they were promised!

    The teachers, most of them bi-lingual educators recruited from Mexico and southern Texas, say district representatives promised them laptops during recruiting efforts and job fairs last summer.

    But not to worry! It seems that the bilingual teachers were safe from the October layoffs:

    Some teachers complained after the district’s recent layoffs that bilingual teachers, and particularly those recruited from other countries, were not affected. “Because of what the student needs are, they were protected,” Dr. Hinojosa said…

    One more…

    Apparently the Mayor of Dallas visited Mexico earlier this year:

    Mr. de Alba [director general of the International Affairs office under the Education Ministry] said the Mexican government would like to make Dallas a pilot city for a 17-point education plan that includes expanding a teacher exchange program.

    Yay! So Mexico not only feels the need to help define the curriculum for Dallas administrators, but they want Dallas to hire more non-US-citizens too!

    Buh-bye Dallas…

  24. #124
    On November 14th, 2008 at 3:59 pm, Lan Astaslem said:

    Okay, I lied. Two more:
    Just for kicks, I pulled up the history of Dallas ISD Demographics. Wow. Just wow. The Latino population in Pre-K – 3rd is >75%.

    Amazing how many of the students’ parents could not provide SSNs for their children:

    In DISD, parents of 35,654 students — or 22 percent of the student body — used an alternative ID in 2006-07, according to the latest TEA information.

  25. #125
    On November 14th, 2008 at 4:01 pm, luckydogg said:

    My wife was given a ss# for a new hire at her work, she checked it with gov. it came back as a bad #….she told the young man it was bad, he said ok……next day he give her a new #… WTF????????

  26. #126
    On November 14th, 2008 at 4:03 pm, RabbidSquirrel said:

    said the Mexican government would like to make Dallas a pilot city for a 17-point education plan that includes expanding a teacher exchange program

    Teacher exchange? If Dallas doesnt have enough teachers as it is, then why would they incur the additional the cost of teacher travel to/from and living in Mexico, and training the new teachers to American teaching standards.

    Do these Foreign educators not need to be accountable to ‘No Child Left Behind’ or to local teaching credential levels and employee testing?

  27. #127
    On November 14th, 2008 at 4:13 pm, nail49 said:

    these fake SS#s were simply used as a stop-gap measures until the teachers’ real SS#s were issued.

    So, I want to open an account at a bank and don’t have any $$$ to deposit in the account, so I take a stop-gap measure and stick up the bank next door to get some $$$ — No Problemo, right?

    Riiiigghhhht!

  28. #128
    On November 14th, 2008 at 4:55 pm, Snowfire said:

    Others have posted here about the hundreds of teachers layed-off at DISD, but not why… $85 to $100 million error in the budget. Who/what keeps books like that? They apparently forgot to put in a line item for salaries for hundreds of teachers. Those I think were new hires, but I don’t think they were the ones let go.

  29. #129
    On November 14th, 2008 at 8:28 pm, SoCal said:

    Hey, I just heard that the Auto Unions get their workers over ONE HUNDRED MILLION A YEAR! Why the hell can’t TEACHERS, who take care of our CHILDREN, get that much… what a freaking travisty!

  30. #130
    On November 14th, 2008 at 8:33 pm, ladcraig said:

    As a victim of identity theft, I urge you all to make sure that your children’s SSNs are protected. A red flag should go up if you start getting credit card offers for the kiddies in your house. Someone used my SSN to get a credit card, at my bank no less. To this day the crook and I are still linked together. I can’t tell you how frustrating this has been. This summer we ended up getting a new mortgage in my husband’s name only because my credit reports are so screwed up. I get damn angry about this. And none of the agencies that are supposed to help care in the least.

  31. #131
    On November 14th, 2008 at 9:05 pm, Leatherneck said:

    Lifelock for the wife, and I also.

    Nasty illegal aliens!

  32. #132
    On November 14th, 2008 at 9:50 pm, jangar said:

    Education is a government entity. It therefore has immunity. It will never go any farther than this blog.

  33. #133
    On November 14th, 2008 at 9:51 pm, jangar said:

    Lifelock.com!!!

  34. #134
    On November 14th, 2008 at 10:31 pm, FamilyMan said:

    SoCal said: Auto Unions get their workers over ONE HUNDRED MILLION A YEAR! Why the hell can’t TEACHERS, who take care of our CHILDREN, get that much… what a freaking travisty!

    Because it’s obvious the teachers aren’t as smart as the auto workers.

  35. #135
    On November 14th, 2008 at 11:39 pm, Jet Jaguar said:

    On November 14th, 2008 at 8:28 pm, SoCal said:

    Hey, I just heard that the Auto Unions get their workers over ONE HUNDRED MILLION A YEAR! Why the hell can’t TEACHERS, who take care of our CHILDREN, get that much… what a freaking travisty!

    It’s because a lot of teachers are just another lazy set of government workers.

  36. #136
    On November 16th, 2008 at 3:35 pm, Chief RZ said:

    There are some like this:

    I

    t’s because a lot of teachers are just another lazy set of government workers.

    Where I worked for 29+ years, most cared for children and worked very hard. Why do we need illegal aliens?

    who knows– because the job is dangerous because rules are not enforced? yes. I saw it.

  37. #137
    On November 17th, 2008 at 2:15 am, Bhishma said:

    Another reason to impeach Bush. But wqait, party-politics brands me as .. “Bush hater”. Glad to know Bush has many Republicans to protect him from impeachment, while he sells out America.
    Well, now GOP can thank Bush for one more thing - loosing the elections!

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