Senator Claire McCaskill is stealing the identity of a crusader against identity theft, despite her role in the very scourge she bemoans. The embattled Democrat is once more  facing a tough re-election battle (nobody likes her here), and she needs an issue that addresses the worries of her constituents, against which she can pose as a crusader.

Her latest battle on behalf of Missourians is against identity theft.  But the senator has a past where that issue is concerned. In a blast sent out to constituents, "Air Claire" crowed:

But now, scammers are using children's stolen Social Security numbers to open fraudulent credit cards before they even graduate high school. We need to stay ahead of the curve to protect Missourians' financial well-being, and we need the Social Security Administration to step up to the task.

That's why I teamed up with {Republican} Senators (Bill) Cassidy and (Tim) Scott to push the Social Security Administration to crack down on this kind of fraud – known as synthetic identity theft – and protect Missourians by requiring financial institutions to confirm that the names and birthdates on credit card applications match Social Security numbers."

Well, isn't she a peach?

But what McCaskill fails to mention is her role in the very scourge she seeks to fix by forcing businesses to spend their own money to address it.

First, what is driving the rise in the theft of Social Security numbers of children?  Well, Ronald W. Mortensen gives us a clue:

As my colleague Jessica Vaughn testified before the Senate Judiciary committee:

[I]t would be appropriate to have [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals – DACA] applicants disclose any misuse of Social Security numbers or other personal identifiers so that the system can be purged and corrected, and so that the true number holders can be informed.  It would also be appropriate to impose an additional fine on the many DACA recipients who worked illegally before obtaining DACA status and improperly used false identity information. The fines could be used to establish a restitution fund for the victims.

... 43.9 percent of all surveyed DACA recipients had worked prior to gaining DACA status, and that percentage increases to 60.7 percent for DACA recipients over 25 years of age.  However, these individuals were unable to legally obtain Social Security numbers for their pre-DACA employment, which means that they used fraudulently obtained Social Security numbers that all-too-often belong to American citizens, including American children.

The use of unlawfully obtained Social Security numbers by individuals eligible for DACA status is so pervasive that the Obama administration instructed applicants not to disclose their illegally obtained numbers.  That ensured that Americans who are the victims of DACA identity theft were left with destroyed credit, arrest records attached to their names, unpaid tax liabilities, and corrupted medical records while the DACA recipients walked away scot-free from multiple felonies[.]

And that is just the DACA participants.  In truth, it's worse:

One in four illegal immigrants [sic] are working with stolen Social Security numbers – and the IRS is not doing a sufficient job of informing Americans of the fraud, the Treasury Department's inspector general said in an audit released Thursday[.] ...

The IRS was able to identify only half of the potentially 1.4 million people who were likely affected by such fraud in 2015, the Times reported[.] ...

The immigrants then file tax forms using the ITINs, but their W-2 forms show valid Social Security numbers they have fraudulently given to employers to clear an initial work authorization check, the Times reported.

The IRS estimated as many as 2.4 million illegals filing taxes every year with the Social Security numbers are not authorized to have them.

That's as many as 2.4 million, based on estimates by a government that has regularly undercounted illegal aliens and makes every effort to downplay the damage they are doing.  I suspect that the number is quite a bit higher.  And how many of these stolen SSNs get sold on the dark web when the "immigrants" are through with them?  Remember, illegal aliens may not be the only customers.  Then, too, how many acts of identity theft has MS-13 perpetrated?  Identity theft was one of the crimes that led the Obama administration to designate MS-13 a criminal group.

If you want more proof that illegals are stealing our children's futures, just take a look at the states with the worst identity theft and credit card fraud.  The survey ranks all fifty states, started with the worst to best.  The worst states?  Nevada, California, New Mexico, Florida, Texas, Michigan, Virginia, Illinois, Arizona, Washington, Maryland.  Please note that these are all high immigrant and illegal alien states.

So we know what the problem is, but does Claire McCaskill?  While she supported E-Verify in the past (no doubt since it puts a burden on private businesses instead of holding the government accountable), she has been a good foot soldier for the Democrats' open border policy.

She supports chain migration, sanctuary cities, funding for executive amnesty, and funding for processing centers for Central American unaccompanied minors.  She voted for the DREAM Act, against a bill to prevent suing Arizona for immigration law, and against defunding sanctuary cities.

According to Numbers USA:

Sen. McCaskill opposed the Vitter Amendment to H.R. 627, The Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act of 2009.  This amendment would have required the banks that issue credit cards to ensure that those granted credit cards are in the United States legally by obliging the banks to verify the identity of applicants using REAL ID-compliant documents.  By opposing this amendment the Senator helped illegal aliens remain in the United States. The amendment failed 28-65[.] ...

Sen. McCaskill voted against the Cornyn Amendment (SA 1184) to S. 1385 to establish a permanent bar for gang members, terrorists, and other criminals.  The Cornyn Amendment would have permanently barred from admission into the United States, and denied immigration benefits (including legal status under the amnesty in this bill), to: (1) absconders (i.e., aliens already ordered deported); (2) aliens deemed inadmissible or deportable as security risks (e.g., terrorists); (3) aliens who fail to register as sex offenders; (4) aliens convicted of certain firearms offenses; (5) aliens convicted of domestic violence, stalking, crimes against children, or violation of protection orders; (6) alien gang members; and (7) aliens convicted of at least three DUIs.  The Cornyn Amendment failed by a vote of 46 to 51.

Claire has done this to the great displeasure of her Missouri constituents.  So now she needs a red herring, and she will boldly work with Republicans to craft legislation forcing all businesses to do a pile of sleuthing to verify the identities of applicants for their products, and perhaps put those companies in danger of running afoul of civil rights laws by profiling.  Claire doesn't care that this will cost the consumer, or that it is abusive to make a private business do the work the government just won't do.

But then, why should she care?  She defrauded taxpayers herself, using government money to finance flights on her airplane and then not paying taxes on it. 

But then, by her standards, doesn't everyone?

Hat tip: Brian Birdnow

Read more from Tim and friends at The Aviary: www.tbirdnow.mee.nu.