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US-Illegal Workers Court rules for workers who use false Social Security cards |
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June 2, 2000
In a 2-1 ruling handed down Wednesday, a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled a San Diego woman who came to the country illegally was eligible to apply for legal residency under the 1986 amnesty law despite her conviction for using someone else's Social Security card.
The appellate court overturned an immigration judge's ruling and said Octavia Beltran Tirado, 50, did not commit a so-called "crime of moral turpitude" because she used the Social Security card only to work.
The appellate court distinguished her use of the false Social Security number from someone who would use one to commit fraud or some other crime.
Jonathan Montag, a lawyer who represented the woman, said the ruling could affect thousands of illegal immigrants because the use of false Social Security cards is widespread.
The Justice Department lawyer who argued the case did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment, so it was unclear whether the government would appeal the decision.
Beltran came to the United States illegally in 1968 from Mexico. She found a Social Security card on a bus and used the number as her own from 1972 to 1991, according to court records.
She was convicted and sentenced to three months in prison and three months in a halfway house. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service sought to deport her in 1993, but she applied for legal residency under the 1986 law that granted amnesty to people able to show they were living in the United States since before 1972.
Beltran, who works as a manager in a fast food restaurant, has remained in the country while her case was pending.
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