Giving Up the Digits
Letting Someone Use My Social Security Number
Story by Elizabeth Rodriguez Art by Wesley Vara

A few years ago someone asked me if his friend could use my social security number to work. I was mad. How could he ask me about such a sensitive subject over the phone! “Well, I don't know anything if you do use it,” I said and hung up. I hadn't thought of it since, until a few weeks ago when this same person dropped off some tax returns to me. It had my name and social security number and he thought maybe I could get the tax money. I carelessly left the document on the kitchen table for my dad to find. He looked them over and said, “You never worked at this store. Who is this?”   “My other me,” was all I could say trying to act like I had no clue. “Well you better fix this right away. It can mess you up.”

I still haven't filed my tax returns, but I don't plan on using the Wal-Mart returns, even if later I have some complication for not filing. And I don't think it is such a bad thing that I let a stranger use my identity.

Why not give up my number to someone who is just searching for work in a country that needs her here without ever admitting it? I gave up my number because of all the things that immigrants get scapegoated for.

Half of my family are recent immigrants, and some didn't take the official measures to get here, but they have made their lives here, raised families and have to live with the constant worry that they are going to be found out and deported. Those of us who do have their legal situation in place wish we could do more for those of us who have been here up to 15 years and have no legal status.

I also work with other people who are obviously using someone else's social security number because the business constantly gets notices about certain people's social security numbers needing to be checked. A lot of those people move on quickly, but others have remained and I know they don't have other options but to keep working long hours and over time as long as they can. One guy is 19 years old; he works more than a full time shift and goes to school in the evenings. I know he would love to do more than work a service job, but even getting the proper education is a challenge because of his status.

A new report says that there are now 10.3 million undocumented workers in the US, more than half of which are from Mexico. I have never believed that immigrants take US citizens' jobs. They take the jobs that “Americans” think they are overqualified and underpaid for. Undocumented workers have an urgency to work because they don't have the luxury of waiting around while someone offers them more than $12 an hour.

Either way workers like my cousin's friend still have a messed up deal, so I don't know how much it helps to lend someone a social. Having no documentation means getting taxed for a job, and working for hard earned money that they will never see. And it only helps for a job, it's not like a free pass in the country. She will still have to live outside the system, using someone else's numerical identity so that her own isn't revealed, because if it were discovered there would be no hesitation to deport her regardless of all she has done and contributed.

The US should focus less on trying to catch people like this woman, who are just trying to make a living, and be more concerned about holding all jobs as dignified. Jobs with living wages that allow people to do more than just survive.