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Friday, July 30, 2010
Poles Coming to N.M. for Licenses
By Juan Carlos Rodriguez
Copyright © 2010 Albuquerque Journal
Journal Staff Writer
"Drivers license in the State of New Mexico. Social Security not necessary. 100% guarantee."
That ad in a Chicago area Polish language newspaper has lured more than a dozen undocumented Poles to New Mexico, in hopes of taking advantage of the state's license requirements for immigrants, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday in federal District Court in Albuquerque.
The man who placed the ad is now facing federal charges of alien smuggling.
New Mexico is one of four states that does not require proof of immigration status to get driver's licenses. It has become a controversial issue, with both gubernatorial candidates saying they oppose the practice.
Jaroslaw Kowalczyk, of Des Plaines, Ill., said he has brought groups of three or four undocumented Polish nationals into New Mexico five or six times for the purpose of getting them the licenses, according to the complaint.
Kowalczyk, 32, is accused of finding clients by running the ad and charging them $1,000 each.
The complaint said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and state Taxation and Revenue investigators have made similar arrests involving undocumented immigrants from Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador and Guatemala. Most of those arrested came from Georgia, Florida, New York and Illinois, all of which require proof of immigration status.
Kowalczyk was arrested July 21, along with two undocumented Polish men who were trying to get licenses at an Albuquerque Motor Vehicles Division office.
The men drew attention when one of them began to argue with a clerk who thought the stamp on his Polish birth certificate looked suspicious. The clerk told the man to call a state Taxation and Revenue fraud agent with his complaint. The man did so, and two agents came to the MVD location to talk to him.
The investigators spoke with the two men and learned that they had paid Kowalczyk $1,000 each to get a license, even though both live in Chicago, the complaint said.
Kowalczyk was waiting for the two men in the MVD office's lobby.
All three men were arrested on charges of forged license, forgery and conspiracy.
The complaint says Kowalczyk promised to help his customers obtain lease agreements and auto insurance while they were in Albuquerque since proof of residency documents are needed for a New Mexico license.
With those documents — along with a Polish passport and birth certificate they already had — they could get a New Mexico license.
New Mexico MVD director Michael Sandoval said MVD clerks are trained to look for possibly fraudulent documents. And license applicants who don't have a Social Security number must wait 45 days to get a non-temporary license while fraud investigators review their documentation.
Sandoval said about 5 percent of license applications from people with no Social Security number are rejected because of problems with their documents, including possible fraud.
More than 82,000 licenses have been issued to people without a Social Security number, according to MVD.
Pat Davis, spokesman for the Bernalillo County District Attorney's Office, said prosecutors have been working with the U.S. Attorney's Office on the case and may file state charges against all three men.
Kowalczyk, if convicted, faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
U.S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales credited the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department and ICE for helping with the investigation.
"Their cooperation and participation was crucial to this investigation," Gonzales said in a statement.
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