The Supreme Court of the United States recently made a decision regarding immigrants and identity theft.

I’m honestly not sure why it got up to the Supreme Court, this seems like a simple decision, but hey…at least it’s been made now.

The Supreme Court has decided that it is within states’ rights to prosecute illegal immigrants who steal another individual’s identity which happens often in order for them to get jobs in the U.S.

The case had nothing to do really on what to do with them since they are here illegally. They weren’t trying to overstep and already existing boundary, this was strictly pertaining to the theft portion.

The Kansas Supreme Court had decided prior to this case getting moved up to the Supreme Court that the state was indeed overstepping a boundary that was already rooted in existing immigration policy.

From IJR:

A Social Security number is used to identify people for employment and tax purposes. People who enter the country illegally do not get assigned Social Security numbers, which are given by the U.S. government to all legal residents.

The case focused on the employment verification process under federal immigration law requiring employers, on a form known as the I-9, to attest that an employee is authorized to work. The law also states that the form “may not be used for purposes other than for enforcement of this act.”

While the federal government has the sole authority to prosecute individuals for providing fraudulent information during the I-9 employment verification process, the state prosecuted the three men for using the same false information on different forms used to withhold wages for tax purposes.

Of course, theft should be punished. It doesn’t matter if a person is legal or illegal, or if they’ve been here for 2 days or 2 years.