Number makes them count

Friday, March 30, 2007 | 7:12 a.m.

Hugo Neira and Martha Parra sat before a computer screen, poised to obey a federal law, despite having broken another federal law, partly to get in the good graces of a federal law that may someday exist.

The couple, from Colombia, was using an Internal Revenue Service-supplied number to fill out their tax returns, despite being in the country illegally.

"Not only is it the law ... but it's a responsibility ... and how can I expect some sort of immigration reform from this government if I don't?" said Neira, an engineer in his home country who now helps Hispanics apply for mortgage s.

Apparently the couple is not alone, because about one-third of the people seeking help since Feb. 5 at a Latin Chamber of Commerce program offering free tax help to Hispanics also have used the number.

Although the number is not a measure of immigration status, experts say , undocumented immigrants are the largest group using the number. Others include foreign investors .

The notion of undocumented immigrants paying taxes is not without controversy.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based group that favors tighter immigration laws, called the idea "one more way illegal aliens are able to root themselves in U.S. society."

He said the IRS should cooperate with immigration authorities, as well as agencies such as the Social Security Administration, to make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to establish lives here.

But others disagree.

"The image many Americans have (of undocumented immigrants) is that they're lawbreakers, a drain on the system, up to no good. This puts a lie to that image," said Harley Shaiken, chairman of the Center for Latin-American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

"It fits with the evidence we've seen that people here will want to do the best they can to become a part of society," Shaiken said.

Nationwide, 1.4 million tax returns were filed last year with the Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or ITIN. The 11-year-old system assigns nine-digit numbers, all beginning with 9, to people who are not eligible for Social Security numbers to file tax returns.

Blaire Borthayre, chief executive of Hispanic Marketing Resources and a consultant on the use of the numbers, said she has seen demand grow in the immigrant community. In the past three years, she said, three major companies - Liberty, Jackson-Hewitt and H&R Block - have begun courting clients who file returns with the numbers.

"Interest is everywhere on the street," she said.

That interest is not only tied to future reform or getting a check in the mail, Borthayre said. The numbers also are useful for immigrants when it comes to purchasing houses and cars.

"These numbers are gold," she said.

Maite Salazar, a volunteer at the Latin chamber, said , "It's about establishing history."

"They're following the rules that apply to living in the U.S. - and sometimes, they qualify for a refund," she said. At the same time, she pointed out, the number disqualifies them from benefits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Alvaro Rueda, who with other volunteers came to the program through the Colombian Association of Las Vegas, said most of those he has seen using the number worked in construction, earned less than $30,000 and qualified for returns ranging from $500 to $1,000.

The tax returns of undocumented immigrants may become a part of the national debate on immigration policy, Shaiken said.

"The debate we have over immigration and life on the ground are in parallel universes," he said.

"The immigrants are here because they're desperate, but they fulfill an economic need ... It's not a shadow economy, but a real economy that recognizes they fulfill a vital role."