Colorado County tax probe targets illegal workers
Illegal workers in Weld County, Colorado, still smarting from a large raid in 2006, have reason to fear again. In August, Weld County police arrested a single local man on charges of using a fake Social Security number. The man told the police that all illegal immigrants "knew to go to Amalia Cerrillo for help with their taxes": a woman who ran a "don?t ask, don?t tell" type tax service. Weld County Sheriff John Cooke says, "Obviously, federal agencies aren?t doing their job, and it?s falling to local agencies to do it." This proactive stance has since resulted in an investigation of Cerrillo?s operation and 28 arrests. Cerrillo was found to have complied with IRS law, but 28 of her clients were arrested after police obtained a warrant to search her files. Kim Baker Medina, an immigration attorney, says the workers are working to comply with U.S. tax laws, "This is an excuse to try to round up immigrants."
See "Colorado County tax probe targets illegal workers", DeeDee Correll, Los Angeles Times, November 30, 2008