Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Kansas’ Appeal for Identity Theft Case

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on March 18 to hear a bid by Kansas to change the state’s prosecution for individuals charged with identity theft after a case that involved three immigrants stealing identities was overturned.

The immigrants involved in the case stole social security numbers and used them to gain employment in the United States. Two years ago, the State Supreme Court overturned the charges against the three immigrants for identity theft and putting false information on legal documents and tax forms.

In 2017, Kansas’ Supreme Court ruled that Kansas could not prosecute by only using the legal documents and tax forms, which are required for a federal work authorization form, called the I-9. Kansas and 10 other states along with President Donald Trump believe that Kansas should have been able to prosecute because the same information in the I-9 form appears on state work forms.

Business teacher Jennifer Hair has had her identity stolen in the past. In 2015 someone stole her and her husband’s social security numbers and used them to file for tax returns — $33,000 in tax reforms. Even four years later, Hair can’t do her taxes online. Because of the theft, she has to go through a verification process each time to make sure everything is correct.

However, Hair doesn’t believe that Kansas should have control over the prosecution for identity theft because the fact that identity theft is a federal crime shows how serious it is.

“It is very inconsistent when you have different lawmakers voting on different policies. I think that lawmakers could also make it into something discriminatory,” Hair said. “To me, [the case they are using] seems to me discriminatory, like they’re trying to find some other way to discourage immigrants from living in Kansas.”

Young Republicans Club President Charlie Birt disagrees. According to Birt, Kansas knows what’s best for their citizens, and especially when it comes to internal affairs of jobs, Kansas should take the lead and have control over the prosecution.

“I definitely feel that we need to preserve the rights of the state over the government,” Birt said.” I think Kansas can streamline the process for the prosecution for those people, because it’s a really important issue.”