Karim Shaaban Kassem Ibrahim, who is now facing charges of forgery and identity theft, came to the attention of the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department after he applied for a job at Talin Enterprises, a grocery store at Louisiana SE. He applied using the identity of Rami Al Nasa, an Egyptian man living legally in North Carolina.We'll admit that when we read the name Karim Shaaban Kassem Ibrahim we were more than a little concerned that Ibrahim had more than a job at the Talin Market in mind when he assumed the identity of Rami Al Nasa. After all, it's not like Ibrahim made a run for the border and ended up here.
In fact with our history of being attacked by certain people from a certain part of the world, it would be less than prudent to ignore the possibility that someone might exploit our state's propensity to provide drivers licenses to anyone with a pulse for terrorist purposes. Fortunately for us, Rami Al Nasa was worried about protecting his identity even if the state is not worried about protecting us from the identity crime of others.
New Mexico is one of the states that don't require proof of U.S. citizenship to obtain a driver's license...The fact is that the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department would never have known about the illegal use of Al Nasa's identity here in New Mexico if Al Nasa hadn't contacted them. The Legislature and the Governor in the infinite and suspect wisdom made it legal to provide identification regardless of legal status.
Al Nasa subscribes to a service that alerts him whenever a credit check is run in his name, and was alerted when Talin Enterprises ran such a check. He contacted the sheriff's department and said he had never applied for a job in New Mexico.
Our Eyes Behind the Badge tell us that they stop holders of these legal illegal IDs on a nightly basis. It's hard to believe that all of these folks are innocently trying to make their way regardless of their illegal status. It's more likely that at least a few of them have shall we say less than honorable intentions. With that in mind, is it really any surprise that Albuquerque is experiencing a crime wave led by gangs?
Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White said New Mexico's lax laws on driver's licenses are making the state a magnet for illegal immigrants.In some cases the blind eye that New Mexico turns towards identification verification aids a struggling immigrant simply yearning to breathe free. In others, it aids less honorable immigrants in their desire to do harm to the very people that the state is sworn to protect. In both cases, the State of New Mexico is aiding criminals in the commission of a crime... that of being in this country without permission.
"We attracted sex offenders when we didn't have a Megan's Law, and now we're attracting people who are here illegally because of how easy it is to get a driver's license," he said. "I would strongly urge the Legislature to revisit it to see if there should be some changes."
