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Surprise! Univision Reports Massive ID Theft Tied to Illegal Immigration NewsBusters (press release) (blog) The stunning report, read by weekend anchor Aranxta Loizaga, was based on a new U.S. Department of the Treasury Inspector General finding that in 2015 alone, unauthorized immigrants stole nearly 1.4 million Social Security numbers to be able to work ...

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Surprise! Univision Reports Massive ID Theft Tied to Illegal Immigration - NewsBusters (press release) (blog)

But David Ferrucci, who ran IBM's Watson project for the 2011 Jeopardy challenge and now runs an AI company called Elemental Cognition, asserts that machines have to defend themselves. "I need an explanation. I wanted to be able to critique it," he tells Axios.

Why it matters: Machines that don't explain themselves scare people who worry about godlike computer overlords. But researchers like Ferrucci are posing a more fundamental question: Are we ourselves willing to be held accountable for decisions we base on those of a computer? Unless he knows the computer's rationale, Ferrucci doesn't want to gamble. And others agree: Darpa, the Pentagon's radical research lab, is studying what it calls "Explainable Artificial Intelligence," giving it the acronym XAI.

Let's talk about it: The debate played out on stage at the O'Reilly Artificial Intelligence Conference this week in New York. Ferrucci argued that the best way to get to the kind of AI he is thinking of the kind you can have a normal exchange of opinions with is to study and develop a computer that thinks like a human. "[But] there is a level to those dialogues that we are nowhere close to having," he said.

The future: Josh Tennenbaum, a professor at MIT, said the answer is to study young children and develop machine intelligence that learns and thinks like them. He played a video of an 18-month-old child who, confronted with an adult having trouble putting books into a closed cabinet, spontaneously opens its doors and watches to make sure the troubled man succeeds. "That's the heart of intelligence right there. And I think that's the grand challenge for AI," he said. "...If we could reverse engineer what's going on in that kid's mind, just think what we can do with robots and other machines that could really help us out."

The Amazon effect: At this stage commercially, many of us are using Alexa or technology like it at home, but Kris Hammond, chief scientist at Narrative Science, said, "Alexa understands words. It doesn't understand language." Alexa can hold only one idea at a time. If you ask a followup, it does not remember what was just said. "You need to be able to challenge," Hammond said. "Otherwise, we would only be listening."

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House passes Trump-backed bills on illegal immigration - Axios

President Donald Trump speaks during the Congressional Picnic on the South Lawn of the White House, on Thu., June 22, 2017, in Washington.

AP

President Trump called on Congress to pass two bills that will come to a vote tomorrow: one that would cut funding to "sanctuary cities," which provide safe haven to undocumented immigrants who might otherwise face deportation, and another "Kate's Law," which would increase the maximum penalty for criminals who entered the country illegally.

"We're calling on all members of Congress to honor grieving American families by passing these lifesaving measures in the House, in the Senate, and then sending them to my desk for a very rapid signature," Mr. Trump said in a White House meeting Wednesday with families of victims of violent crimes committed by undocumented immigrants.

In the meeting, the victims' families shared stories of their lost loved ones. One mother who lost her son fought back tears, saying that if the legislation were "done earlier, my son would still be here." Another grieving mother brought the remains of her son with her to the White House and praised the Mr. Trump's decision to run for president.

Both bills will receive a vote in the House tomorrow. The Republican-proposed sanctuary cities bill, titled the "No Sanctuary for Criminals Act," would withhold federal funds from cities or states that don't cooperate with federal laws regarding undocumented immigrants. It also states that local law enforcement cannot be precluded from asking immigrants about their legal status.

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The second bill, "Kate's Law," is named after 32-year-old Kate Steinle who was shot and killed in San Francisco by an undocumented immigrant with seven felony convictions who had already been deported five times. If passed, it would impose a mandatory five-year minimum sentence on immigrants who have previously been deported and re-enter the country.

According to the White House website, "the bill is consistent with the Administration's broader efforts to strengthen enforcement of our immigration laws and improve the security of our Nation's borders."

Earlier Wednesday, Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Thomas D. Homan also encouraged the House to vote in favor of the bills, describing them as "the most significant piece of legislation I've seen that's going to help keep our communities safe and law enforcement officers safe."

"The America I grew up in, you respected the laws, you revered law enforcement professionals, and I just see in the last several years there's almost this feeling that it's okay to not comply with the law, it's okay to not comply with law enforcement officers," Homan said. "No longer are we going to vilify the men and women of ICE for doing their job, they're American patriots, every one of them," he later added.

In a White House briefing Wednesday, Homan said that the administration's priority is the removal of criminal aliens, but that anyone in the country illegally is subject to deportation. He also explained that with regard to Kate's Law, the more deportations undocumented immigrants have on their records, the more severe the penalties they could be subject to.

"If we don't have border security, if we don't enforce the laws that's written in the books, you're never going to patrol the border," Homan said. "Why do you think we have 11-12 million people in the country now? Because there has been this notion that if you get by the border, you get in the United States, you have a U.S. citizen kid, no one's looking for you. But those days are over."

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Trump calls on Congress to crack down on illegal immigration - CBS News

Female Kurdish Fighter Smiles, Sticks Her Tongue Out After ISIS Bullet Misses Her Head

The father of a 21-year-old who was killed by an illegal immigrant in 2015 urged those who would justify sanctuary cities to recognize that such policies are bad for the country.

Grant Ronnebeck was killed just before 4amonJanuary 22, 2015 during his overnight shift at his convenience store job in Mesa, Arizona.

Apolinar Altamirano, 29, entered the store, dumped some change on the counter and demanded cigarettes, but while Grant counted the change he pulled out a gun. Grant handed over the cigarettes, but that was not enough for Altamirano, who shot him in the face, killing him instantly.

"This isn't just a one time thing. It's not an isolated incident," Grant's father Steve said. "This is every day."

"Sanctuary cities is just inviting that crime to their neighborhoods, to their streets," Ronnebeck said. "They're inviting the chance for this to happen to their children."

"It's not worth it," Ronnebeck concluded.

Trump: Chuck Schumer 'Doesn't Seem Like a Serious Person'

Female Kurdish Fighter Smiles, Sticks Her Tongue Out After ISIS Bullet Misses Her Head

The suspect had been charged with burglary in 2012 and was out on $10,000 ICE bond at the time he murdered Grant.

President Trump met with Steve and other families of victims Wednesday, promising justice and the passage of the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act, which would put an end to sanctuary cities and Kate's law, which sets harsher punishments for illegal immigrant felons who re-enter the U.S.

"You lost the people that you love because our government refused to enforce our nation's immigration laws," the president said.

Female Kurdish Fighter Smiles, Sticks Her Tongue Out After ISIS Bullet Misses Her Head

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'It's Not Worth It:' Parent of Child Killed by Illegal Immigrant Speaks Out - Fox News Insider

Joe Guzzardi, National Columnist

According to a recent Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration audit, the labor market includes a shocking 1.4 million employed illegal aliens who in 2015 used falsified or stolen Social Security numbers to get hired. Not only have the illegal immigrants committed a crime by unlawfully entering the United States, but identity theft through fraudulent Social Security number misuse is a felony.

Identity theft, a little discussed criminal component of illegal immigration, creates major headaches for the citizens and legal permanent residents who must explain to the IRS why their tax filings omitted income they never earned.

Inspector General J. Russell George understated the inconvenience identity theft creates for innocent taxpayers when he said in a statement that it represents a significant burden. The Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) significantly complicates the problem. The ITIN was created for those who dont have and arent eligible for a Social Security number. It is used by aliens who of course are ineligible for Social Security numbers. But their W-2 forms submitted to employers include valid Social Security numbers that belong to someone else.

The Washington Times reported that 87 percent of online tax submissions with an ITIN showed income associated with a Social Security number which could not possibly belong to the filer. ITIN-based taxes filed using the old-fashioned paper method reflected slightly less, but still significant, fraud of about 50 percent.

The tax fraud illegal immigrants perpetrate is a longstanding problem that has an easy solution. But as with so many other immigration-related problems, the political will to bring about change is nonexistent. First, and most obviously, staunch border security supplemented by interior workplace enforcement would go a long way. Fewer illegal immigrants means less crime.

Second, during the period when the border is being secured, and while federal immigration agents are vigorously monitoring workplace violations, end the ITIN whose major purpose has come to be facilitating alien employment. Citizens and legal residents dont need ITINs; they have Social Security numbers. About a decade ago, mortgage brokers eagerly accepted ITINs as qualifying documentation to grant illegal immigrants home loans. The under-employed aliens who couldnt make the payments were one factor in the mortgage meltdown that precipitated the global Great Recession.

Third, a no-brainer, let the IRS communicate with the Department of Homeland Security to check which Social Security numbers may have been used by illegal aliens. Barring the IRS from exchanging information with DHS, the current practice, guarantees that identity theft will continue.

Although the IRS insisted in its official response to the Inspector Generals findings that it takes identity theft very seriously, the agency showed little enthusiasm for meaningful reform. The IRS said that it had just completed a pilot program designed to notify identity fraud victims that theyve been scammed. Good luck. A pilot program to track overseas visitors and workers entry and exist passed Congress 30 years ago, but still hasnt been implemented.

In a final cop out, the IRSs wage and investment division commissioner, Kenneth C. Corbin, said that his agency doesnt have sufficient funding to more vigorously pursue illegal alien tax frauds, a disappointing confirmation of the governments continuing willingness to protect illegal immigrants at the expense of working, taxpaying Americans.

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Guest Column: Identity Theft an Overlooked Wrinkle of Illegal ... - Kdminer