The influx of almost 180,000 migrants into New York City since the spring of 2022 has given rise to a lucrative market for criminals associated with MS-13 and other dangerous gangs.
According to The New York Post, these criminals have been seen openly peddling counterfeit green cards and social security cards to undocumented individuals on street corners.
These forged documents can facilitate the opening of bank accounts, obtaining employment, and potentially acquiring legitimate identification.
Furthermore, they can be utilized to evade a history of criminal activities.
Bruce Foucart, a former special agent in charge of Homeland Security investigations in New England, told The Post that, armed with forged IDs, someone could “load up a truck with bombs … and bring it underneath the Holland Tunnel and create something major and disastrous.”
“For someone that wants to do terrorist activity or is a national security threat, it’s easy to establish this second life within the US,” said Foucart.
He added, “I guarantee right now, we’re just waiting for another 9/11.”
Roy Fenoff, an associate professor at the Department of Criminal Justice at the Citadel, South Carolina, said the fake documents give migrants access to a slew of services otherwise impossible without government identification.
“Once people have these fake cards, they can work, they can travel, they can access a lot of aspects and services in the United States,” he said. “There are people getting these cards that are not here just to get a job, that they have other intentions, and this helps them carry out criminal activity.”
He said the social security cards are fake, but the numbers are real, so U.S. citizens can be affected.
“If I’m using a social security number that’s of another person, and then I’m committing crimes, and I’m using [their] name, you potentially have warrants out there for innocent people’s arrest, because you don’t really know who this person was,” he said, citing a case he handled of a Denver woman whose ID was stolen.
Diego Ibarra, the brother of Jose Ibarra, who is accused of killing nursing student Laken Riley, is currently in federal custody for allegedly possessing a fake green card.
ICYMI: Held Hostage by the Budget: Uncovering the U.S. Government’s Annual Financial Ambush
