Criminals with ties to MS-13 and other gangs are selling fake green cards and Social Security cards to immigrants on the streets of Queens. This poses a dangerous security threat as rogue newcomers flood into the Big Apple.
This week, the Post found at least 10 men camped out in broad daylight on four different corners along Roosevelt Avenue in Queens, selling fake documents for anywhere from $80 to $250.
A forged Social Security number can be used to open a bank account or obtain a real driver’s license.
A permanent resident card, also known as a green card, gives immigrants the legal right to live and work in the United States.
Many immigrants buy counterfeit goods to find jobs where employers don’t look too closely at their documents.
But some have darker intentions.
A person with such identification “could load a truck with a bomb and drive it down the Holland Tunnel and cause a large-scale disaster,” a Homeland Security investigation in New England said. Bruce Foucart, the former special agent in charge, warned.
“It’s easy for people who want to commit terrorist activities or pose a national security threat to build a second life in the United States,” Foucart said.
“I can tell you right now, we’re just waiting for 9/11 to happen again.”
Wednesday between 82nd and 103rd Streets on Roosevelt Avenue, which runs from Jackson Heights to Elmhurst to Corona, the Post reported.
- Five hooded men gathered outside a La Gata Gollosa bakery, whispering “sociable, sociable” to passersby and chatting with Spanish-speaking customers near a massage parlor. . One company offered a Post reporter a pristine green card and a Social Security card for $80. “They work,” the shady salesman declared, showing an example of a fake document on his cell phone. “I need your name, full name, and age. . . You can take a photo.”
- Some members of the group ran out from around the corner onto the 82nd Street steps below Madeline Salon with customers in tow. According to one observer, the transfer of cash and the collection of documents takes place behind glass doors.
- Another fake ID peddler, sitting in a chair outside an insurance office between 102nd and 103rd Streets, offered fake green cards for $180 and Social Security cards for $70. He said “many” people were buying fakes, but declined to say how many had been sold.
- A black market dealer took a reporter to the lower steps of a barbershop and asked the scribe to enter his name, age and country of origin into his phone. The salesman initially asked for $200 to purchase the green card and Social Security card, but the price was reduced to $80 after negotiation. The Post did not purchase the card.
- Another fake document peddler was caught on video sitting on a chair on the sidewalk under the overpass. According to footage posted by Instagram account Zombiesinnyc..
The Roosevelt Street vendors are affiliated with the 18th Street gang and the ruthless MS-13, a senior police official said.
Both gangs originate from Los Angeles and are rivals known for violence and drug dealing, but also sell fake IDs.
“This is big business,” the official said.
The transnational criminal organizations operating the factories may also have helped smuggle migrants, creating a “one-stop shop” for illegal immigrants, Foucart said.
Roosevelt Street has long been known to law enforcement officials as the “East Coast capital” for fake identification.
The area is also a hotbed for prostitution, with the Post recently exposing an open-air “lover’s market” known for its popular YouTube videos.
Local residents and workers are outraged by the fake ID mills in their midst.
“If you look up your Social Security number and no one says, ‘Okay,’ the next step is to use it as a weapon,” said Gee Omar, 24, a clerk at Candy Grocery Food Corp. on Roosevelt Street. It’s probably a passport.”
“Now everyone can do what they want.”
Nearly 180,000 immigrants have flowed into the city since spring 2022, increasing demand for the cards.
“People from other boroughs come here to get their identity cards. All the new immigrants are coming here,” said one local resident.
Roy Fenoff, an associate professor at the Citadel Criminal Justice Department in South Carolina, said the fake documents allow immigrants to access many services that would not be possible without government identification.
“Once people get these counterfeit cards, they can work, they can travel, they can access many aspects and services within the United States,” he said. “There are people who are not here to get a job, but are getting these cards for other purposes, and this facilitates their criminal activities.”
He said Americans could be affected because the Social Security cards are fake but the numbers are real.
“If you are using someone else’s social security number, you are committing a crime. [their] “There could be warrants issued to arrest innocent people, because we don’t really know who that person is,” he said of the Denver woman whose identity was stolen. He gave an example of a case he was in charge of.
Law enforcement experts say undocumented immigrants may also use fake documents to avoid having their real names on criminal records.
“If they’ve never been fingerprinted before, they could be arrested five, six, seven, eight times under a false name… and they’ll never have a record themselves. ” said John Cutter, former deputy chief of intelligence for the New York City Police Department.
“If you use a fake ID, [a] So they can become bolder and more willing to break the law and potentially do really serious things,” he continued.
Illegal immigrant Diego Ibarra, brother of Jose Ibarra, who is charged with killing University of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, is suspected of having a fake green card that he used to work at the university. He is in federal custody in connection with the incident. school.
Diego is said to have ties to a brutal Venezuelan gang.
In New York State, creating a fake ID is a crime called “possession of a forged instrument,” a felony punishable by up to seven years in prison.
The New York City Police Department said it is investigating any potential illegal activity on the strip.
“The NYPD continues to address the situation… on Roosevelt Avenue,” an NYPD spokesperson said.
It’s impossible to say how many of these counterfeit cards are in circulation or the black market value of the fake documents, but Cutter says there are probably tens of thousands of counterfeit green cards and Social Security cards in use in New York City. It is estimated that
However, with the surge in immigration, the production and sale of fake documents has increased in New York City, Fenoff noted.
“When fraud opportunities increase and demand increases, the market will always follow,” he said.
