GREELEY — Weld County’s district attorney is appealing a judge’s ruling that prevents him from filing any more identity theft charges against suspected illegal immigrants who had been filing taxes.
District Attorney Ken Buck had filed charges against at least 60 people using the tax returns his office seized from a Greeley business. More cases were possible, as Buck alleged that as many as 1,300 people were breaking the law by filing tax returns with stolen or false Social Security numbers.
But the American Civil Liberties Union sued, saying that tax returns are confidential.
District Judge James Hiatt agreed with the ACLU this week, and said Buck’s investigation was over-broad. He ordered Buck not to file any more cases based on the tax records he seized and that those documents should be destroyed or returned to Amalia’s Translation and Tax Services, the business that had been searched.
Buck’s attorney, Lisa Hogan, said they’re confident the Colorado Court of Appeals will overturn Hiatt’s ruling. Hogan said that in siding with the ACLU, Hiatt overlooked the people whose identities were allegedly stolen.
“There is not one mention of the victims of this case, the people whose IDs were used fraudulently,” Hogan said.
But Mark Silverstein, the ACLU’s legal director in Colorado, said he believes Hiatt’s ruling will stand.
“We believe our arguments are right and are gratified that the judge saw it that way,” he said.
Pending Buck’s appeal, attorneys for both sides agreed that the tax documents should be kept by the court, instead of being returned or destroyed.
Everyone who earns income in the U.S. is required to pay taxes regardless of legal status, so immigrant advocates criticized Buck, saying he was punishing people for doing what they were told to do. The ACLU also said the people Buck was investigating were using Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers that the IRS provides to people who don’t have Social Security numbers and need to pay taxes.
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Information from: The Denver Post,
