A Tulsa, Okla., based operation that produced and sold thousands of counterfeit identification documents highlights vulnerabilities in federal verification systems and potential avenues for widespread fraud, federal authorities said.
Karina Garcia-Salazar, 47, a Mexican national living in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was sentenced Wednesday, Jan. 28, to 60 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. She pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transfer identification documents and conspiracy to possess with intent to use or transfer five or more false identification documents. Her co-defendant, Jorge Augusto Prieto-Gamboa, 41, also a Mexican national, received 15 months in prison in December 2025 on related charges.
From August 2020 until their February 2025 arrest, the pair manufactured fake Social Security cards, lawful permanent resident cards, state driver’s licenses, foreign IDs and passports, selling them nationwide, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma. Agents conducted controlled buys, and a home search yielded 67 completed counterfeits, along with electronic records of more than 2,000 documents.
Such rings exploit gaps in systems like E-Verify, the federal online tool employers use to confirm work eligibility by matching I-9 form data against Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security records. E-Verify detects obvious mismatches but cannot verify that the person presenting the documents is the rightful owner. High-quality fakes or stolen identities — often paired with altered photo IDs — pass checks, enabling unauthorized employment, fraud, and even election interference.
A June 2025 ICE raid at Glenn Valley Foods, a Nebraska meatpacking plant, was among the first to raise suspicion about the system. Despite full E-Verify use, about 70 workers were detained for using stolen SSNs from U.S. citizens, affecting over 100 victims with financial harm and legal trouble with the IRS. Industry reports note that E-Verify’s limitations help to fuel a demand for forgeries.
Beyond employment, counterfeit documents facilitate improper federal payments in programs like Medicaid, SNAP and child care subsidies. Fraud rings use fake or stolen identities to enroll ineligible individuals, submit false claims or overbill for nonexistent services. Recent HHS actions froze billions in child care funds to states amid allegations of widespread misuse, including phantom enrollments and fabricated attendance.
Election interference remains more speculative, yet counterfeits have supported noncitizens voting in multiple elections, even in states with mandatory ID laws. In 2024, Angelica Maria Francisco was arrested and convicted on nine counts of identity theft and voter fraud.
According to a press release from the Department of Justice, “Francisco assumed the identity of a United States citizen in or around 2011. Francisco used the false identity to obtain a United States passport in 2011. She subsequently used the United States passport to travel to and from her native country of Guatemala in 2012, 2015, and 2018. Using the same false identity, Francisco also registered to vote in Alabama in 2016 and voted in the 2016 and 2020 primary and general elections.”
In late 2024, Republicans began demanding answers, leading to the introduction of the SAVE Act by early 2025. Under Attorney General Pam Bondi, the DOJ has ramped up efforts to secure the midterms.
Following legal pressures from Judicial Watch and the DOJ, the sanctuary State of Oregon began removing 800,000 of its 3 million registered voters from rolls this week. In Fulton County, Georgia, F.B.I agents raided the election office on Wednesday, fulfilling a warrant for 2020 election materials.
Last month, the DOJ announced six more defendants tied to the Minnesota daycare fraud scheme, and the Department of Health and Human Services recently announced the onboarding of fraud attorney Scott Brady.
“Ending fraud and abuse across HHS programs is one of my top priorities,” Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said. “Every year, fraudsters and criminal schemes steal tens of billions of dollars from American taxpayers. That ends now. That’s why President Trump and I appointed a U.S. Attorney to lead this effort.”
Once considered a victimless crime, identity theft has quickly risen as a top reported crime, impacting millions of hard working Americans each year. Criminal aliens using stolen identities and SSNs might pass E-Verify, but as employers report income to the IRS, it’s the victims of identity theft left on the hook to pay those taxes, who are denied their prescriptions and health care, and who ultimately pay the price as government agencies seek to recoup “over payments” for everything from SNAP to unemployment benefits.
Such networks undermine the integrity of government programs, impose heavy burdens on taxpayers, and victimize individuals whose identities have been stolen across every sector of society.
Although fraud schemes are by no means exclusive to criminal aliens, federal prosecutors highlight the significant role that identity theft networks play in understanding and unraveling how these schemes are being carried out today.
