Criminals selling fake identity documents to migrants in Colorado desperate to find work, CBS News Colorado Investigation finds

The Investigators with CBS News Colorado have uncovered a scheme that's taking advantage of migrants in Denver, and potentially causing innocent Americans to fall victim to identity theft, all while city, state, and federal government agencies miss out on income tax revenue. 

Criminals are printing and selling fake identification documents – like social security and permanent resident cards – to migrants who are desperate for documentation, so they are able to find work. 

Nearly 40,000 migrants from South and Central America have crossed rivers and jungles to come to Denver in recent months, seeking better lives. Many of those migrants told CBS News Colorado they felt they had no other choice but to buy the fake documents, because otherwise, they can't secure a job to feed their families. 

"This is a problem for everyone," one Venezuelan migrant told CBS News Colorado, in an interview translated from Spanish. "Everyone, that is, all the migrants who arrive, all the migrants. The first document is this (a fake one)."

The man, who wanted to remain anonymous, escaped Venezuela after he says the military raided his home, beat him and his wife, and threatened to kill them. 

"They were going to kill me, for everything I know about the government, for what my father knows, and for not wanting to continue under the orders of the Maduro regime," he said. 

He says when he arrived in Denver, he was approached about buying fake identity cards at a total cost of $120 for both a social security and a permanent resident card. After the man decided to buy the cards, and called in his order, he says the cards were ready the very next day. 

"The interview with him is only by phone, he asks for a photo, date of birth, the name that will be given and that's it," the migrant explained. "He asks you for the address where it will be delivered. He drives in his vehicle... he arrives, and suddenly he has four or five people there waiting for the same documents. None of the migrants know each other... He calls us by the name we have on the document... and hands you the document through the window of his vehicle, and you give him the money."

For migrants, getting a work authorization permit can take up to eight months and can require expensive help from an immigration attorney, and not everyone gets approved. 

The migrant who purchased the fake documents says he was denied because he used to be an officer. So, as the father of young children, he felt the black-market documents were his best option to feed his family. 

"In one way, it calmed me down, because I needed a document to work on, but at the same time, I also felt bad, because they are not legal and I'm committing a crime," the migrant said. "My goal here every day is to work hard so that they can have a profession."

So far, he says he's used the fake cards to get two different jobs, but lately, he's been afraid to use them. 

"Here in Colorado, there have already been people who have been arrested by the police with these documents," he said. 

Many other migrants in Denver tell us they've had similar experiences.

"Innocently, we didn't know, because we hadn't found work," another migrant from Venezuela, who had also bought fake documents, said in an interview translated from Spanish. "When he (the seller) gave us the documents, they seemed very real, and we thought we could use them."

A CBS News Colorado photographer also went undercover at a temporary housing area for migrants. When he asked a group of Venezuelan men where to find documents quickly, one man pulled out his wallet and showed his own fake cards, and another offered to put him in touch with a seller. 

The men told the photographer he could probably buy the documents he needed for around $100 to $150. 

The CBS News Colorado photographer also called the phone number of another alleged seller, who told our photographer he could pick any name for the cards, or use his own name, but to proceed at his own risk. 

The seller also told our photographer that for $120, he could buy basic cards, or for $900, he could buy cards that would pass the federal E-Verify system, which hundreds of thousands of employers in Colorado use every day. 

The anonymous Venezuelan migrant told CBS News Colorado the seller who sold to him claimed that the cards he bought for only $120 would also pass E-Verify. 

The Denver Office of Homeland Security Investigations says it is aware of the fake document sales in Denver, and it does not believe the sales of these documents are supported by a large crime ring, but rather it is just a few men who may be involved. 

Meanwhile, Denver Police told CBS News Colorado it was not aware of the fake document sales happening, but said anyone with information should contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867 so that investigators can look into it. Those who report information can remain anonymous.

Calls for government action

Since February, the city of Denver says it has helped nearly 1,000 migrants apply for work authorization permits, and other community organizations have also pitched in to help people process their work permits faster.

One organization working with migrants is Joanna Saenz Enterprises, founded by Joanna Saenz, a woman who fell victim to identity theft years ago, and has since made it a personal mission to help make sure others don't have to suffer similar fates. 

"I knew that I needed to educate them, because they were now being offered a social and an ID, and I know the detrimental facts that could happen personally," Saenz said. "I'm just so grateful that some of them are listening."

Saenz did her own police work to track down her imposter. 

"It scared me to death knowing that she had she assumed my whole life," Saenz said. "I figured out that she was working in Fremont, Nebraska, and the first time I ever ran across her was in a newspaper article."

After Saenz reported it, police arrested her identity thief, and the woman was charged federally. However, Saenz says the woman posted bail and is still a fugitive to this day. 

"It took me a really long time to accept that," Saenz said. 

Recently, Saenz helped migrant Evelin Ferrer Ruiz avoid buying fake documents. Ferrer Ruiz traveled from Venezuela with her 11-year-old son Cesar on foot to Denver, even crossing through the precarious Darien Jungle in Colombia and Panama, in search of a better life.

"It was a horrible experience," Ferrer Ruiz said. "We had to go through many countries… they treated us badly."

When she made it to a Denver shelter, Ferrer Ruiz says a man approached her offering to sell her a social security card.

"The guy offered us a work permit, which we didn't know if it was legal or illegal," she said. 

Before taking up his offer, Ferrer Ruiz talked to Saenz. 

"I told her about the guy, and she advised me not to do it," Ferrer Ruiz said about her conversation with Saenz. "She said, 'don't do it because that can harm your case.'"

The Denver Office of Homeland Security Investigations says it does not believe the current sales of fake IDs to migrants are creating widespread identity theft, because it appears the sellers are choosing random numbers and names to print on the IDs, however, the office says it is still possible that an innocent person's identity is being compromised as a result. 

The office added that a few years ago, a woman from Peru selling fake documents to migrants ended up causing at least one Colorado woman to lose her SNAP benefits, also called food stamps. 

Saenz says she's glad she can help newcomers, while also hopefully helping protect the identities of innocent Americans. 

"There are steps to do it the right way," Saenz said. 

The right way is exactly what Ferrer Ruiz is hoping for every day, so she can give her family a more fulfilling future. 

"We ask the government for, more than anything, a document that says, with this I can work, with this, they will accept me in a job," Ferrer Ruiz said. 

The migrant who spoke to CBS News Colorado anonymously agrees. He says he doesn't want any government handouts for free housing or food vouchers. Instead, he would like to see a more streamlined system for obtaining work authorizations.

"I ask the government to organize the situation with people's immigration statuses, with their work permits, and then more people will pay taxes... then the government won't have to take money out of its pocket for the migrants, but instead the migrants are going to contribute to the government because what we want is to work," he said. "We came to have things through our own efforts and if we have to pay taxes we are going to pay taxes."

Colorado's Office of New Americans shared a similar sentiment in the following written statement it provided to CBS News Colorado:

"The Office of New Americans and the Department of Labor and Employment has conducted job fairs and is providing legal assistance clinics. We are committed to helping new arrivals join Colorado's economy, however, a lack of Congressional action has blocked these new arrivals from gaining valid work permits, filling job vacancies, and joining Colorado's strong economy. We implore Congress to take action and pass real immigration reform, including work permits for new arrivals and support for interior states' handling of the influx of new arrivals."

Some also worry that fake ID sales could have devastating effects on the economy, potentially causing serious losses in tax revenue for government agencies that are already stretched thin. 

Neither the city, state, or federal agencies CBS News Colorado contacted would say how much money has potentially been lost.