Obama’s
data advantage
| ||||||
CHICAGO — On the sixth floor of a sleek office building here, more than 150
techies are quietly peeling back the layers of your life. They know what you
read and where you shop, what kind of work you do and who you count as friends.
They also know who your mother voted for in the last election. The depth and breadth of the Obama campaign’s 2012 digital operation — from data mining to online organizing — reaches so far beyond anything politics has ever seen, experts maintain, that it could impact the outcome of a close presidential election. It makes the president’s much-heralded 2008 social media juggernaut — which raised half billion dollars and revolutionized politics — look like cavemen with stone tablets. Mitt Romney indeed is ramping up his digital effort after a debilitating primary and, for sure, the notion that Democrats have a monopoly on cutting edge technology no longer holds water. (Also on POLITICO: White House tech gurus unveil digital road map) But it’s also not at all clear that Romney can come close to achieving the same level of technological sophistication and reach as his opponent. (The campaign was mercilessly ridiculed last month when it rolled out a new App misspelling America.) “It’s all about the data this year and Obama has that. When a race is as close as this one promises to be, any small advantage could absolutely make the difference,” says Andrew Rasiej, a technology strategist and publisher of TechPresident. “More and more accurate data means more insight, more money, more message distribution, and more votes.” Adds Nicco Mele, a Harvard professor and social media guru: “The fabric of our public and political space is shifting. If the Obama campaign can combine its data efforts with the way people now live their lives online, a new kind of political engagement — and political persuasion — is possible.” Launched two weeks ago, Obama’s newest innovation is the much anticipated “Dashboard," a sophisticated and highly interactive platform that gives supporters a blueprint for organizing, and communicating with each other and the campaign. (PHOTOS: Technology and the Obama campaign) In addition, by harnessing the growing power of Facebook and other online sources, the campaign is building what some see as an unprecedented data base to develop highly specific profiles of potential voters. This allows the campaign to tailor messages directly to them — depending on factors such as socio-economic level, age and interests. The data also allows the campaign to micro-target a range of dollar solicitations online depending on the recipient. In 2008, the campaign was the first to maximize online giving — raising hundreds of millions of dollars from small donors. This time, they are constantly experimenting and testing to expand the donor base. “They are way ahead of Romney micro-targeting and it’s a level of precision we haven’t seen before,” says Darrell M. West, a leading scholar on technology innovation at the Brookings Institution. “[The Obama campaign has] been able to work on it under the radar during the Republican primary season.” Obama already this year has outspent Romney significantly (and outspent his own 2008 levels) for online advertising, according to several market analyses the numbers. The hope for the Obama team, says West, “is that his online reach will outweigh any Superpac funding advantage Romney might have for television advertising, by reaching deep into communities with targeted online advertising, grass-roots organizing and fundraising.” The other hope, of course, is that Obama can replicate some of the online excitement that propelled him into office four years ago. Romney campaign officials acknowledge that they have had neither the time, nor the resources to build a complex digital operation as they were fighting their way through the prolonged primary season. “It wasn’t something we were going to put resources into if he wasn’t the nominee,” said one adviser. It is also apparent that the Romney campaign will stick closely to the traditional campaign model of heavy and expensive television spending — with the assist of wealthy conservative super PACs that have signaled a willingness to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to defeat Obama. While the campaign is beginning to increase staff in preparation for the general election, Romney digital director Zac Moffatt says they will do things differently than the Obama operation. For one, Moffatt says the Romney campaign will outsource much of their data management — instead of handling it in house, creating “customized solutions” to fit their needs. “As a campaign we would not presume to know more than the collective intelligence and resources of the marketplace,” said Moffatt, who adds that they will target audience through “our partnership with an industry-leading data management platform.” “In the end, what is most important is not how many people on any list or how many followers we have — but their engagement level. And our followers are engaged,” Moffitt said. Harvard’s Mele, who at age 25 helped pioneer the use of social media technology on Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign, said that even with some obvious attrition to Obama’s 2008 database, Romney is trailing. The challenge facing both campaigns in 2012 is the changing consumer — and the endless ways they receive information. Four years ago, supporters might have been satisfied with just “friending” a candidate on Facebook, but today most users expect a more sophisticated way to actually engage –and on their terms. While Obama campaign officials guard details about its digital operation as fiercely as Romney guards his tax returns, they were willing to share some advances since 2008: • Created a holistic, totally in-house digital operation that is the largest department at campaign headquarters. In 2008, much of the social media and video was generated organically from supporters. As one campaign official put it, “digital is no longer a part of the campaign. It is the campaign.” • Hired a number of nonpolitical tech innovators, software engineers and statisticians. “It has been incredibly freeing, because all election campaigns are a slave to history, and the history here is just nonexistent,” says Obama campaign manager Jim Messina. “So, we’ve been able to kind of reinvent it.” • Invested mightily in cutting-edge technology that scales the website to fit the screen of any device. With nearly half of the U.S. population using smart phones, “responsive design” allows a user to give money and volunteer without bifocals. “More than 40 percent of all our donors are new, and a lot of them are coming in because of things like this,” says Messina. “Call up our website and try to donate on your phone and then do Romney’s. … Those things are important, because people are busy and people want to help us and they think about — ‘Oh, yeah, I saw the president on TV. I want to give them money. How hard is it?’ ” • Developed a more complex symbiosis between the campaign and Facebook, which is 10 times bigger than it was four years go, and has far more personal information available to mine. “Facebook was just a site to see friends four year ago now it is part of people’s DNA,” notes a senior campaign adviser. Obama invites supporters to log on to the campaign through their Facebook accounts, which gives the campaign one more avenue for data. • Opened the first all-volunteer. all-digital office in San Francisco where knowledgeable techies drop in for a few hours and strive to develop new software for the campaign under the supervision of paid staff. • Staffed a full-time digital director in each of about a dozen battleground states to effectively run mini-general election campaigns in those states. This time, says Messina, it’s the campaign that’s driving and controlling most digital content. “The goal is to burst through the wall of those two things.” Twitter was just gaining steam in 2008 when campaign used the platform largely to notify followers about events. The campaign had 118, 000 followers at election time and about 2.4 million Facebook followers. Today, Obama has 16 million Twitter followers to Romney’s 500,000, and Michelle Obama has nearly 1 million to Ann Romney’s 45,000. On Facebook, Obama has nearly 27 million followers to Romney’s 1.8 million. (It’s hard to know how many of either man’s followers are non-American.) “We are building content to a variety of different channels, because what has really changed is the channels are different, and so some people are going to get all of their stuff through Facebook, some people now do Twitter, some people are going to go directly to our website, some people like it on email, some people like it on text,” Messina said. Less certain for Obama is whether his vast digital empire can recreate the movement and excitement of 2008. Messina makes it clear that some tried-and-true methods still apply. “It’s even more important this time than last time to run a real grass-roots campaign that’s built on turning out our voters, persuading undecided voters and making sure they’ll vote on Election Day,” he says, “and that is the kind of the organizing we’re doing.”
THEY
BREAK OUR LAWS THE MOMENT THE CLIMB OUR BORDERS FOR OUR JOBS AND “FREE”
MEDICAL, EDUCATION AND ANCHOR BABY BIRTHING!
THEY
DRIVE ILLEGALLY, THEY CONTRACT ILLEGALLY AND DO AS THEY PLEASE AS ALL LOOTERS
DO!
I’M
TALKING ABOUT OBAMA’S PARTY BASE OF LA RAZA ILLEGALS!
THERE
ARE ONLY EIGHT (8) STATES WITH A POPULATION GREATER THAN LOS ANGELES COUNTY
WHERE HALF THE JOBS ARE HELD BY ILLEGALS USING STOLEN SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS.
WHEN HAVE YOU READ ABOUT EVEN ONE BEING PROSECUTED???
AND
SO YOU THINK THEY’RE NOT OUT THERE VOTING ILLEGALLY AS WELL? WITH OUR TAX
DOLLARS, OBAMA IS FUNDING THE MEXICAN FASCIST PARTY of LA RAZA OUT OF OUR WHITE
HOUSE THROUGH LA RAZA V.P. CECELIA MUNOZ.
THE
OBAMA-HOLDER DEPT OF JUSTICE IS MERELY AN AGENCY TO ADVANCE OBAMA’S OPEN
BORDERS AGENDA!
THAT
MEANS GET OUT THE ILLEGALS’ VOTES!!!
*
“And in keeping with the
betrayal of Arizona, Holder’s Department is unwilling to lift a finger to
alleviate the influx of illegals into Alabama.”
Eric
Holder’s End Game – Stealing The November Elections » Commentary -- GOPUSA
Adamo: Eric Holder’s End Game - Stealing
The November Elections
By Christopher G.
Adamo April 12, 2012 6:55
am
James O’Keefe has
struck again. And once more, he deserves a medal for his heroic operation. In
2009, he and an accomplice, Hannah Giles, laid bare the rampant criminal
activities being perpetrated nationwide by ACORN, the subversive network of
leftist activists whose seditious political work had previously remained
largely under the radar. As a result of that exposure, ACORN was forced to
officially disband and reorganize, though its activity is ongoing.
This time, O’Keefe
spotlighted the epidemic of deliberate vote fraud that liberals have promoted
throughout the country in recent years, and which portends the destruction of
its foundations if not soon confronted and corrected. And though O’Keefe did
not take his sting operation directly to the Department of Justice, by making
his case so profoundly, he essentially put the nation’s highest law enforcement
office on notice that it will be held accountable for its action, and perhaps
more so for its inaction when presented with such incontrovertible evidence of
rampant criminal malfeasance at the voting booth.
By now the account of
O’Keefe’s stunning maneuver has been widely retold. In short, he went to the
very polling place where Eric Holder (Barack Obama’s Attorney General) would
vote, and proved that current voter identification and verification practices
are so inadequate as to permit O’Keefe to accept a ballot and vote in Holder’s
name, had he a mind to do so. This is particularly incriminating since it is
Holder who has done more than any other high official to purposefully undermine
the voting process in this country.
Beginning with his
contemptible decision to ignore the flagrant acts of voter intimidation
perpetrated by members of the “New Black Panther” organization in Philadelphia
in 2009, Holder has an unbroken track record of choosing to overlook criminal
behavior based not on the real substance of the law or the nature of any
breaches, but on whether or not the liberal agenda will be served or harmed by
a strenuous legal response.
J. Christian Adams,
formerly an attorney at the Voting Rights Section of the Department of Justice,
eventually left his position and wrote an expose on the racial motivations
which completely poisoned the department on Holder’s watch. In his book, he
grimly warned America that the end result of this violation of trust, if not
appropriately addressed, would be “lawlessness.”
In like manner,
O’Keefe rendered proof positive that organized hordes of illegal “voters” can
significantly skew the results of elections throughout the nation, just by
claiming the identities of registered voters in those particular districts. And
to nobody’s real surprise, Eric Holder is the most vigorous champion of
maintaining the present system just as it is, while seeking to disparage and
discredit O’Keefe.
Amazingly, Holder can
apparently remain totally oblivious to flagrant crime if it serves his interests,
while summoning an uncanny ability to concoct misdeeds where none have
occurred. For just as resolutely as he refused to concede perpetration of
crimes by the New Black Panthers, he fiercely pursues the ostensible
possibility of “voter intimidation” elsewhere in the nation, absent any
credible accusations from disenfranchised voters, but instead based on the
premise that merely requiring legitimate identification might result in such.
So while the
“Justice” Department cannot bring itself to protect white voters, who were
criminally prevented from voting in Philadelphia, it is in hot pursuit of those
“lawbreakers” in the state governments of Texas and South Carolina who want
proper identification from would-be voters in their jurisdictions. In truth Holder
is not bothered by the illegal activities of “New Black Panthers” since they do
not threaten the advance of liberalism, but efforts to keep the polling places
honest and upright clearly endanger the aspirations of the political left.
What could possibly
be the motivation of the Justice Department in such circumstances, other than
to insidiously seize control of the ballot box, and thereby predetermine the
outcome of the nation’s elections? Or perhaps more accurately, can any other
reasonable explanation be offered in defense of this flagrantly biased and
ideologically driven course of action?
Meanwhile, it is
necessary to recall Holder’s other malignant attack on state sovereignty, and
the very ability of states to maintain their integrity. In April of 2010,
Arizona passed a law requiring the verification of identification of
individuals caught in crimes who might possibly be illegal aliens. Of course,
this resulted in an incredible outcry from every subversive group seeking the
eradication of America’s borders. Before the law could take effect, Holder led
the charge to have it overturned. Most incredibly, his premise was that
Arizona’s effort to reduce the flood of illegals infringed on the jurisdiction
of the federal government which, of course, would do nothing to improve the
situation.
Since that time,
Holder has taken similar action against Alabama, where a comparable measure was
signed into law in 2011. Again, the DOJ premise is that states cannot interfere
in a matter that it claims to be under federal authority. And in keeping with
the betrayal of Arizona, Holder’s Department is unwilling to lift a finger to
alleviate the influx of illegals into Alabama.
After Barack Obama
exposed the nation to the ugly realities of liberalism in 2009 and 2010, Democrat
political fortunes tanked, culminating in the rout of the Democrat controlled
Congress in 2010. Since then, Barack Obama’s approval ratings have plummeted,
and prospects for a rally are looking increasingly bleak. With the jobs market
continuing to languish, energy costs skyrocketing, and America’s standing in
the world dropping to historically low levels, it seems increasingly unlikely
that an open and honest election will benefit the liberals. So of course they
are looking for ways to affect the ballot box through stealthy and dishonest
tactics. And as abhorrent as this prospect may be, it is far worse that an
election victory gained in such a manner would mark the end of any possibility
that real America could ever again triumph through legal and peaceable means.
---
Christopher G. Adamo
is a resident of southeastern Wyoming. He has been involved in politics at the
local and state level for many years. His contact information and article
archives can be found at www.chrisadamo.com
VN:F [1.9.6_1107]
Adamo:
Eric Holder’s End Game - Stealing The November Elections,
… but LA RAZA says
that any law that does not put Mexican illegals ABOVE THE LAW IS RACIST!
THE DEMOCRAT PARTY IS
DETERMINED TO GET ALL 40 MILLION ILLEGALS VOTING AGAIN FOR DEMS!
69% Say Photo ID
Voting Laws Are Not Discriminatory
Email
this
Related Articles
Tuesday, December 20,
2011
Attorney General Eric
Holder signaled last week that the Justice Department will be closely examining
new state laws that require showing
a photo ID before voting
for potential racial bias, but voters nationwide overwhelmingly favor such a
requirement and reject the idea that it is discriminatory.
Seventy percent (70%)
of Likely U.S. Voters believe voters should be required to show photo
identification such as a driver’s license before being allowed to cast their
ballot. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 22%
oppose this kind of requirement. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
60% Think Federal
Government Encourages Illegal Immigration
Email
this
Related Articles
Friday, December 16,
2011
Voters continue to
believe strongly that the federal government’s actions are encouraging illegal
immigration even as the Obama administration announces bias charges against a
popular Arizona sheriff for his anti-immigration efforts. Also this week, the
U.S. Supreme Court sped up its review of the Justice Department’s legal
challenge of state laws aimed at stopping illegal immigration.
*
CALIFORNIA IS IN A STATE OF
MELTDOWN!
LA RAZA PELOSI:
*
*
“How many other terrorist suspects may have
slipped through the system because Leftists like Pelosi oppose any meaningful
screens? Instead she continues to advocate our recognition of the flimsy,
non-validated ID card that the Mexican consulates provide to illegal aliens
before they cross over our border, called the “matricula consular”, which gives
them phony documentation to set up bank accounts, apply for jobs, obtain social
benefits, board airplanes, identify themselves to police, enter buildings that require
IDs, obtain drivers’ licenses and then perhaps use those drivers’ licenses to
try to illegally register to vote in our elections.”
*
"As we’ve shown again and again in ‘Minutemen,’ the Democrats aren’t just hypocrites, but are working actively to subvert our legislative system to their own ends. Their only goal is votes, votes and more votes, no matter where they come from, no matter if they’re cast legally, no matter whether the person casting them is dead, alive, a citizen or an illegal alien." *
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/05/are-illegals-voting-what-other-laws-do.html
*
LaRaza Calls
For Boycott Against Free Speech
No
surprise here. Pulling the race/hate card again and using political correctness
La Raza goes after cable shows reporting on illegal immigration.
"MurguÃa said she recognized that ultimately the power to change the debate lies with the Hispanic community itself. “Latinos buy products from the advertisers supporting these programs,” she said. “Latinos vote in primaries and in the general election. We have a significant role to play picking winners and losers in both arenas. We need to make it clear to those who embrace hate that they do so at their own economic and political peril.” http://www.nclr.org/content/news/detail/50375/ *
Update and Release on NC Victory against bogus Mexican ID
for illegals
ALIPAC Responds to NC Legislator's Personal Attacks http://www.alipac.us/article6196.html
*
“Through love of having children,
we are going to take over.” AUGUSTIN
CEBADA, BROWN BERETS, THE LA RAZA FASCIST PARTY
http://www.aztlan.net/anchor_baby_power.htm
*
Republicans on the House Administration Committee want to
shore up voter registration rules in the wake of a Colorado
study that found as many as 5,000 non-citizens in the state took part in last year’s election.
*
Rep. Gregg Harper (R-Miss.), the panel’s chairman, called
the study “a disturbing wake-up call” that should cause every state to review
its safeguards to prevent illegal voting.
“We simply cannot have an electoral system that allows thousands of non-citizens to violate the law and vote in our elections. We must do more to protect the integrity of our electoral processes,” Harper added. Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler, a Republican, told the panel that his department’s study identified nearly 12,000 people who were not citizens but were still registered to vote in Colorado. Of those non-citizen registered voters, nearly 5,000 took part in the 2010 general election in which Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet narrowly defeated Republican John Buck. Subjects: Voter fraud, Colorado, non-citizens, voters, driver's license, study, registration, committee, US House, Republicans. March 31, 2011 Debbie Siegelbaum The Hill Colorado conducted the study by comparing the state’s voter registration database with driver’s license records. “We know we have a problem here. We don’t know the size of it,” Gessler said in testimony to Administration’s Elections subcommittee. He told Harper that Colorado would look to create a registration system that would allow his department to ask that some people provide proof of their citizenship in writing. If individuals did not respond to the request, their registration as voters would be suspended. Rep. Charles Gonzalez (D-Texas) raised doubts about the reporting, noting that the study itself said it was based on inconclusive data and that it was “impossible to provide precise numbers” on how many people who were registered to vote in the state were not citizens. Gonzalez asked Gessler, a former prosecutor, if he would have pursued a court case on such evidence. Gessler responded that the goal of the study was to expose voter registration issues and pursue administrative avenues to resolve them. “We don’t have a screen for citizenship on the front end when people register to vote,” he said.
*
GOP says 5,000 non-citizens voting in
Colorado a 'wake-up call' for states
By Debbie Siegelbaum - 03/31/11 01:23 PM ET The Hill Republicans on the House Administration Committee want to shore up voter registration rules in the wake of a Colorado study that found as many as 5,000 non-citizens in the state took part in last year’s election. Rep. Gregg Harper (R-Miss.), the panel’s chairman, called the study “a disturbing wake-up call” that should cause every state to review its safeguards to prevent illegal voting. “We simply cannot have an electoral system that allows thousands of non-citizens to violate the law and vote in our elections. We must do more to protect the integrity of our electoral processes,” Harper added. Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler, a Republican, told the panel that his department’s study identified nearly 12,000 people who were not citizens but were still registered to vote in Colorado. Of those non-citizen registered voters, nearly 5,000 took part in the 2010 general election in which Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet narrowly defeated Republican John Buck. Colorado conducted the study by comparing the state’s voter registration database with driver’s license records. “We know we have a problem here. We don’t know the size of it,” Gessler said in testimony to Administration’s Elections subcommittee. He told Harper that Colorado would look to create a registration system that would allow his department to ask that some people provide proof of their citizenship in writing. If individuals did not respond to the request, their registration as voters would be suspended. Rep. Charles Gonzalez (D-Texas) raised doubts about the reporting, noting that the study itself said it was based on inconclusive data and that it was “impossible to provide precise numbers” on how many people who were registered to vote in the state were not citizens. Gonzalez asked Gessler, a former prosecutor, if he would have pursued a court case on such evidence. Gessler responded that the goal of the study was to expose voter registration issues and pursue administrative avenues to resolve them. “We don’t have a screen for citizenship on the front end when people register to vote,” he said. http://thehill.com/homenews/house/153079-gop-says-5000-non-citizens-voting-in-colorado-a-wake-up-call-for-states?page=2#comments
*
WHEN DO YOU HEAR A POLITICIANS TALK
ABOUT ELECTIONS WITHOUT MENTIONING THE
“LATINO VOTE”? NO ONE TOLD THESE POLS THAT JUST BECAUSE LA RAZA BREAK ANY AND
ALL LAWS AND ORDINANCES IN THIS NATION, IT’S ACCEPTABLE TO GO OUT AND ILLEGALLY
VOTE AS WELL?
THERE IS NOT A DEM, FROM OBAMA DOWN,
WHO IS NOT HISPANDERING FOR THE ILLEGALS’ VOTES, AND PROMISING THEM AMNESTY,
DREAM ACTS, NO E-VERIFY, OUR JOBS, OR AT LEAST, CONTINUED NON-ENFORCEMENT!
*
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/05/are-illegals-voting-what-other-laws-do.html
*
LaRaza Calls
For Boycott Against Free Speech
No
surprise here. Pulling the race/hate card again and using political correctness
La Raza goes after cable shows reporting on illegal immigration.
"MurguÃa said she recognized that ultimately the power to change the debate lies with the Hispanic community itself. “Latinos buy products from the advertisers supporting these programs,” she said. “Latinos vote in primaries and in the general election. We have a significant role to play picking winners and losers in both arenas. We need to make it clear to those who embrace hate that they do so at their own economic and political peril.” http://www.nclr.org/content/news/detail/50375/ *
Update and Release on NC Victory
against bogus Mexican ID for illegals
ALIPAC Responds to NC Legislator's Personal Attacks http://www.alipac.us/article6196.html
*
“Through love of having children,
we are going to take over.” AUGUSTIN
CEBADA, BROWN BERETS, THE LA RAZA FASCIST PARTY
http://www.aztlan.net/anchor_baby_power.htm
*
http://video.yahoo.com/watch/7165215?fr=yvmtf
*
ILLEGALS VOTING
*
Republicans on the House Administration
Committee want to shore up voter registration
rules in the wake of a Colorado
study that found as many as 5,000 non-citizens in the state took part in
last year’s election.
*
Rep. Gregg Harper (R-Miss.), the
panel’s chairman, called the study “a disturbing wake-up call” that should
cause every state to review its safeguards to prevent illegal voting.
“We simply cannot have an electoral system that allows thousands of non-citizens to violate the law and vote in our elections. We must do more to protect the integrity of our electoral processes,” Harper added. Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler, a Republican, told the panel that his department’s study identified nearly 12,000 people who were not citizens but were still registered to vote in Colorado. Of those non-citizen registered voters, nearly 5,000 took part in the 2010 general election in which Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet narrowly defeated Republican John Buck. Subjects: Voter fraud, Colorado, non-citizens, voters, driver's license, study, registration, committee, US House, Republicans. March 31, 2011 Debbie Siegelbaum The Hill Colorado conducted the study by comparing the state’s voter registration database with driver’s license records. “We know we have a problem here. We don’t know the size of it,” Gessler said in testimony to Administration’s Elections subcommittee. He told Harper that Colorado would look to create a registration system that would allow his department to ask that some people provide proof of their citizenship in writing. If individuals did not respond to the request, their registration as voters would be suspended. Rep. Charles Gonzalez (D-Texas) raised doubts about the reporting, noting that the study itself said it was based on inconclusive data and that it was “impossible to provide precise numbers” on how many people who were registered to vote in the state were not citizens. Gonzalez asked Gessler, a former prosecutor, if he would have pursued a court case on such evidence. Gessler responded that the goal of the study was to expose voter registration issues and pursue administrative avenues to resolve them. “We don’t have a screen for citizenship on the front end when people register to vote,” he said.
*
GOP says 5,000
non-citizens voting in Colorado a 'wake-up call' for states
By Debbie Siegelbaum - 03/31/11 01:23 PM ET The Hill Republicans on the House Administration Committee want to shore up voter registration rules in the wake of a Colorado study that found as many as 5,000 non-citizens in the state took part in last year’s election. Rep. Gregg Harper (R-Miss.), the panel’s chairman, called the study “a disturbing wake-up call” that should cause every state to review its safeguards to prevent illegal voting. “We simply cannot have an electoral system that allows thousands of non-citizens to violate the law and vote in our elections. We must do more to protect the integrity of our electoral processes,” Harper added. Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler, a Republican, told the panel that his department’s study identified nearly 12,000 people who were not citizens but were still registered to vote in Colorado. Of those non-citizen registered voters, nearly 5,000 took part in the 2010 general election in which Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet narrowly defeated Republican John Buck. Colorado conducted the study by comparing the state’s voter registration database with driver’s license records. “We know we have a problem here. We don’t know the size of it,” Gessler said in testimony to Administration’s Elections subcommittee. He told Harper that Colorado would look to create a registration system that would allow his department to ask that some people provide proof of their citizenship in writing. If individuals did not respond to the request, their registration as voters would be suspended. Rep. Charles Gonzalez (D-Texas) raised doubts about the reporting, noting that the study itself said it was based on inconclusive data and that it was “impossible to provide precise numbers” on how many people who were registered to vote in the state were not citizens. Gonzalez asked Gessler, a former prosecutor, if he would have pursued a court case on such evidence. Gessler responded that the goal of the study was to expose voter registration issues and pursue administrative avenues to resolve them. “We don’t have a screen for citizenship on the front end when people register to vote,” he said. http://thehill.com/homenews/house/153079-gop-says-5000-non-citizens-voting-in-colorado-a-wake-up-call-for-states?page=2#comments
*
Illegal
Aliens Turn To Identity Theft ..................... (Wait Till Victims Try To
Retire......!!!)
Jan. 8, 2008 WICHITA, Kan.
When U.S. Air Force veteran Marcos
Miranda had his identity stolen, he went from being a valued customer and employee
to a government statistic — one of thousands of identity theft victims caught
up each year in the crackdown on illegal immigrants.
Identity theft has been a growing worry in the United States, but a rise in federal prosecutions of immigrants offers a new wrinkle on the problem. As better systems are developed for verifying employment, illegal immigrants are assuming the names and government-issued ID numbers of Americans like Miranda to thwart detection at workplaces, get driver's licenses and obtain credit. Miranda first learned someone else was using his identity in 2000 when he was arrested on a warrant for unpaid traffic tickets at the border after a visit to relatives in Mexico. The 24-year-old Texas man was released after paying a $340 fine for violations he never incurred. Although his money was eventually returned, his nightmare was just beginning. The most common start to identity theft is for the perpetrator get hold of someone's Social Security number, which is part of the system used to record people's earnings for federal retirement benefits. Once a person takes a job in the U.S., the first thing his employer will likely ask for is his or her Social Security number. In Miranda's case, that's why he has gotten repeated letters from the federal tax officials demanding thousands of dollars in back taxes for wages paid to someone using his name and Social Security number to work at a pork slaughterhouse in Holton, Kansas. Miranda watched his once-high credit rating plummet as creditors reported unpaid bills incurred by others. "Even though I am Hispanic, I am against illegal immigration," Miranda said. "Even though a lot of them come to work, there are always bad apples. (Identity theft) has really made my perspective ... negative about immigration." A Mexican national accused of stealing Miranda's identity pleaded guilty last month to one count of using fraudulent documents in a plea deal with federal prosecutors. Joel Rojas-Morales, 27, will be sentenced in March. "That way he knows crime doesn't pay in America. Maybe in Mexico it does. But here, it may take some time, but the long arm of the law catches up to you," Miranda said. Chris Joseph, the defense attorney representing Rojas-Morales, is sympathetic to identity theft victims like Miranda. "I have no reason to doubt that is absolutely true. There is no question he is a victim of identity theft," Joseph said.
*
MEXICANOCCUPATION.blogspot.com
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE
MONITOR
An illegal immigration
link to identity theft
A
massive sweep at Swift meat-processing plants this week could lead officials to
'document rings.'
By Faye Bowers | Correspondent of The Christian Science
Monitor
PHOENIX
The latest
roundup of illegal immigrants caught working in the US with fraudulent
identifications - the largest single such work-site action ever - raises new
questions about a link between illegal immigration and the growing problem of
identity theft.
Federal raids
Tuesday at six meat-processing plants owned by Swift & Co. in six states
resulted in the arrests of 1,282 people for immigration violation - with 65
also charged with identify theft or other criminal charges.
The
investigation is continuing, say officials with US Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE), with the hope that some of the newly arrested workers will
lead law officers to "document rings" that provided the stolen
identities. The 10-month operation began in February, when ICE learned that "large
numbers" of undocumented immigrants might be using Social Security numbers
assigned to US citizens.
"We
believe that the genuine identities of possibly hundreds of US citizens are
being stolen or hijacked by criminal organizations and sold to illegal aliens
in order to gain unlawful employment in this country," said Julie Myers,
ICE assistant secretary. She called it "a disturbing front in the war
against illegal immigration."
The fraudulent
document business has long been a thorn in the side of immigration officials,
making it hard for them to crack down on companies for knowingly hiring illegal
workers. Indeed, even as ICE agents conducted Tuesday's raids at the Swift
plants, a joint task force in Arizona - made up of state, federal, and local
law- enforcement officials - was arresting 12 suspects and seized numerous fake
drivers' licenses, resident alien cards, Social Security cards, and vehicle
titles.
Metropolitan
Phoenix, a major immigrant-smuggling hub, has become a place where the false ID
business is thriving, law-enforcement officers say. They estimate that 1,000 to
1,500 "coyotes," or smugglers, stash thousands of undocumented
immigrants in drop houses throughout the valley, where they wait until false
identification and transportation can be arranged to places as far away as
Seattle and Miami.
"I would
say that 90 percent of the transactions dealing with the sale of human cargo,
those smuggled across the [Arizona] border, occur right here," Angel
Rascon-Rubio, an ICE special agent, testified at a federal court hearing last
year.
The Phoenix
area is ideal for smugglers, officials say, because it is fairly easy to reach
from Mexico but far enough from the border to avoid border patrol enforcement.
It has broad access to the rest of the country via air and car. Moreover, the
large Hispanic neighborhoods provide cover for drop houses and new immigrants.
On one of
Phoenix's quiet residential streets lined with stucco tract homes live two men
who came to the US illegally but gained legal status - along with some 3
million others - under the federal 1986 amnesty program. David and Raul, who
will give only first names, are in the business of helping newly arrived
illegal immigrants acquire fake documents.
They are not
part of an organized crime family, they say - just part of a network of
established immigrants who help others attain what they've achieved. They are,
in effect, the go-betweens from those who bring the immigrants and those who
make the fake ID papers - a service they say they provide for free.
"A coyote
will call and say, 'Does your boss need more workers?' or 'Can you help get
this person some papers?' " says David, whose main job is as a landscaper.
"It's easy. I'll have a number for a [document] guy and call him. We'll
meet at the major intersection out here, say, in half an hour. I give him $50
or $100, whatever he's asking, a photo of the person, and a name," he
adds. "About 45 minutes later, he'll call me to come meet him on the same
corner with the papers - a Social Security card and a green card."
If that won't
work, David adds, he drives to the nearest Food City, a chain that specializes
in Hispanic goods. There, he says, he just asks around. "There are even guys
there who'll hand you business cards - they're in the business of providing
fake documents."
Raul, who works
in construction, says it's not uncommon to get a call from a coyote in the
morning and, by afternoon, have jobs and fake documents for the newly arrived
illegals. The two won't tell how many illegal immigrants they help, but say
they get called at least weekly.
All of the
arrests at the Swift plants Tuesday targeted illegal immigrants who held actual
- not fake - Social Security numbers. Many businesses that make use of
immigrant labor participate in a national test program for employers called
Basic Pilot, an online system to verify employees' Social Security numbers.
But the
fake-documents manufacturers are wise to this, say David and Raul. In Arizona,
they assign Social Security numbers that begin with 601 - numbers the
government apparently assigns people from Arizona. Employers then don't readily
recognize a fake document, and, the men say, it takes at least a year for the
government to recognize a duplicate number. That means the illegal immigrant
can work in the US for up to a year before being sent home.
Arizona Gov.
Janet Napolitano set up an Arizona Fraudulent Identification Task Force in July
2005 as part of a crackdown on crime related to illegal immigration. Since
then, the task force has focused in part on fraudulent documents. In doing so,
it has issued more than 100 search warrants resulting in 178 defendants charged
with 1,400 crimes, says Leesa Morrison, director of the Arizona Department of
Liquor Licenses and Control.
"Most
astounding," adds Ms. Morrison, "is that in this short period our
undercover agents have purchased over 1,000 fraudulent immigration documents.
What's frightening is that [they] are able to purchase a three-pack - a
driver's license, a Social Security card, and a permanent-resident card - for
about $160 on the street."
*
Crossing the ID border
The
Monitor's View
Americans learned last
week they can no longer look the other way when someone else hires an illegal
worker. A federal raid on six Swift & Co. meatpacking plants in the US
nabbed more than 1,250 "undocumented" migrants - and dozens were
charged with using the IDs of real people, perhaps even of children.
The
usual practice for many of the estimated 12 million illegal migrants living in
the US has been to buy fake IDs with made-up numbers and names. But organized
rings in at least 10 cities now sell authentic-looking Social Security cards and
some 26 other types of IDs with real names.
These
IDs make it even more difficult for employers to reject illegal workers - if
employers even bother to check. Such forgery has reached an
"epidemic," say federal officials, with illegal migrants and their
handlers now violating both the privacy rights and economic rights of innocent
Americans.
In one
case, a man named Jason Smith found he owed $12,000 in back taxes because an
illegal immigrant used his Social Security number to work at a chicken plant
for three years.
To
avoid detection, fake-ID rings often use a child's identity. Usually, only when
the children reach 18 would they find out they have a record of bad credit or
other financial complication. One Mexico-based ring's reach is so
"breathtaking," a federal judge stated in one case, that it hits
"at the heart of the sovereignty of the United States."
Most
identity theft is done to steal money, not work in someone's name. But with
about 1 in 30 Americans now having their financial identities stolen each year,
and with illegal migrants making up nearly 1 in 20 workers, a dangerous link
has been made between two massive violations of law. Government is cracking
down on ID theft, but both states and Congress have only begun to come to grips
with illegal migration - despite the threat of terrorists using fake IDs to
hide in the US.
A
federal system that allows employers to check Social Security IDs is flawed
because it cannot detect cases where migrants use legitimate names and numbers.
(Swift & Co. uses the system, but only a fraction of companies do.)
Even if
this system is improved, ID thieves may find new ways around it. And expanding
a guest-worker program for Mexicans may only be compromised by other ways of
forging documents; in addition, that program may never be large enough to curb
the flow of illegal migration.
Another
offered solution - "earned amnesty" - would be difficult if illegals
simply buy fake records to claim they've been in the US for years. And amnesty
is hardly a reward to give those who knowingly commit the felony of identity
theft.
Congress
recently boosted border enforcement and raised fines on employers who hire
illegals. Both measures are good first steps and need to be pursued effectively
for years. Companies need to raise wages high enough to attract legal workers,
while law enforcement needs to show a consistent record of cracking down on
employers who knowingly hire illegals.
No
one's true identity can ever be stolen. But Americans need to know that both
their financial and border security are not at risk.
*The fake ID
business: some previous busts
April 2005:
In Florida, immigration agents arrested 52, including several state Department
of Motor Vehicles officials, alleged to be part of a scheme to make and sell
fake driver's licenses and hazmat licenses to more than 2,000 illegal
immigrants. The same month, other sweeps revealed fraudulent license schemes in
Michigan and Maryland.
May 2005:
In Mississippi, Cedric Carpenter and Lamont Ranson pleaded guilty to conspiring
to sell fake documents to members of Abu Sayyaf, a Philippines-based Islamist
terrorist group.
February
2006: A lieutenant in the Mexican-based Castorena family organization, a
fraudulent document outfit that controls cells in 33 states, was sentenced in
Denver to 11 years in prison. More than 50 members of this international
counterfeit operation have been prosecuted in Denver alone. Its leader, Pedro Castorena-Ibarra,
was arrested in June by Mexican officers and is awaiting extradition to the US.
March 2006:
Agents busted seven counterfeit-document labs in Los Angeles and charged 11
people with supplying fraudulent immigration and identity documents.
June 2006:
In Boston, immigration agents arrested nine people accused of running a phony
document ring. They seized document-forging tools and six computers at five
homes. The sweeps led to the arrests of 13 undocumented Brazilian and
Guatemalan nationals.
Sources: US
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Associated Press
“This organization is considered by
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a branch of the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) as one of the largest internationally, with connections
in Central America and Mexico.”
“Identity theft is the fastest
growing white collar crime in America today and is often motivated by organized
rings that sell these stolen identities to illegal aliens seeking illegal
employment.
This story was first broken on the
Wake Up America Talk Show "A Minuteman Project Chapter" Hosted by
Steve Eichler.
A Mexican
clan of document forgers operates in 33 states, including Illinois. In Chicago,
their annual take is around $2.5 million, and their main collaborators are gang
members. Los Angeles - In 1848 what came to be called the Gold Rush started.
People came to California from all over the world to seek their fortunes. The
idea of getting rich without much effort was the main reason they left their
countries and headed for the promised land to seek the precious metal. And so
did Pedro Castorena-Ibarra and Manuel Leija-Sánchez, albeit 138 years later. In
1987 they found their goldmine in California. At that time the United States
Congress had just passed a law giving amnesty to the undocumented who were
living in the country.
*
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