Identity theft in the form of illegal and fraudulent use of Social Security numbers is on the rise. Illegal immigrants and criminals are obtaining numbers of legitimate citiens of the United States of America and are destroying peoples\' credit and social security benefits. The Internal Revenue Service and Social Security collect extra taxes because of this practice. The problem has been going on for a long time and is getting worse. And fixing it would upset the delicate apple cart that is America\'s immigration policy. Imposters using our Social Security Number pay taxes in our names, obtain credit cards in our names, take out loans in our names and even buy cars and houses in our names. And the banks, credit bureaus, not even federal government agencies are required to alert us when our Social Security numbers have been stolen and are being illegally used. The Social Security Administration is not allowed, under current law, to disclose information to a consumer that his or her Social Security number is being fraudulently used. The Internal Revenue Service, is also not allowed to disclose this information to the consumer, by law. Businesses interested in giving credit to a consumer can pay to see any activity connected to a particular Social Security number; consumers cannot. All three credit bureaus sell specialized services withh names like \"Social Search,\" that track the entire history of a Social Security number. The services are not available to the consumer. Identity theft has resulted in the IRS demanding back taxes for wages earned by their imposters. Refunds are sometimes held up by the confusion; others see wages garnished. State agencies try to collect fraudulently nemployment benefits obtained by the imposter from the victim. The problems can repeat themselves year-after-year. What\'s more neither the IRS or Social Security Administration has any plans to notify consumers who might be sharing their identification with one or many more undocumented workers. We, the undersigned, believe consumers are always better off if they know how their stolen identity information is being misused. The restrictions placed on government agencies for providing this information by the Privacy Act or other federal laws and regulations about the theft of individual Social Security numbers, must be rescinded and new laws requiring disclosure to consumers of Identification theft and abuse must be enacted.

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