Migrant who lied about breastfeeding baby charged with multiple felonies for social security fraud

In addition to being in the country illegally, Maria Domingo-Garcia, has been charged with two felonies related to identity theft.

An illegal immigrant mother whose nursing claims were disputed by a medical examination has been slapped with multiple felony charges for using another person’s social security number.

Maria Domingo-Garcia was federally indicted on Tuesday for knowingly using another individual’s social security number, according to court documents that allege that in September 2017 Domingo-Garcia used someone else’s Social Security card in Mississippi as evidence she could stay or work in the country. A second felony count accuses her of using another person’s Social Security number to gain something of value, the documents say.

The ruling, handed down in the Northern Division of the Southern District of Mississippi, will result in her being placed in the custody of U.S. Marshals as she awaits federal trial.

News of the indictments come after Domingo-Garcia made national headlines for claiming she was a nursing mother unable to breastfeed her baby because Immigration and Customs Enforcement placed her in detention.

The issue dates back to August 7, when ICE agents apprehended 680 illegal immigrants working in food processing plants across Mississippi — the largest ICE raid in U.S. history. Domingo-Garcia was among the hundreds of illegal aliens apprehended that day.

Days after her apprehension, numerous articles about her personal life were published. In a recent CNN report, for example, Domingo-Garcia’s lawyers definitively claimed that she was breastfeeding her four-month old baby at the time of her arrest. The lawyers admonished ICE for separating her away from her baby, and described the physical toll of abruptly ceasing to breastfeed was having on her body.

“She is still really depressed. She is in a lot of pain because of not being able to pump or breastfeed,” Juliana Manzanarez, one of her two lawyers, said to CNN.

ICE conducted a medical examination of Domingo-Garcia in response to these reported claims. A nurse practitioner found that she was, in fact, not lactating — a strong indication that she was not breastfeeding her baby when she was apprehended just days earlier.

“All ICE detainees receive medical, dental and mental health intake screening within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility; that screening includes a woman being asked if she is breastfeeding. During her initial medical screening, Ms. Domingo-Garcia answered no to that question,” read an ICE statement on Tuesday. Domingo-Garcia claimed to her lawyers that she was never asked this question.

“Pursuant to subsequent media reports that falsely alleged Ms. Domingo-Garcia was being detained despite being a nursing mother, an ICE Health Services Corps nurse practitioner conducted an additional medical examination of Ms. Domingo-Garcia, which verified she is not lactating,” the statement continued.

Generally, law enforcement tries to accommodate humanitarian needs, but the law by no means dictates that. According to ICE, “of the 680 persons initially arrested, 303 were released within 24 hours. ICE made those custody determinations based upon the totality of the circumstances on a case-by-case basis, and a person who identified themselves to this agency as a nursing mother would be considered to have a significant mitigating factor in that custody determination.”

If you think that “just using someone else’s social security number” isn’t a big deal, here are just five of the many things that a thief could do with a stolen social security number (SSN):

1. Open Financial Accounts – obtaining credit, skipping out on payments leaving the owner of that SSN vulnerable for paying the charges
2. Get Medical Care – obtaining care, and then not paying the bill can affect your credit rating and leave you vulnerable for paying the charges
3. File a Fraudulent Tax Refund – they get the money, you get stuck with dealing with the IRS and defending yourself against possible felony charges
4. Commit Crimes – they use your name, or because of the SNN association, your name is listed as a “known alias” this could lead to your arrest for crimes you didn’t commit
5. Open Utility Accounts – power, phone, water/sewer etc…  racking up bills that affect your credit rating and make it extremely difficult to obtain utilities for yourself