Tax records seizure prompts lawsuit

GREELEY, Colo., Feb. 2 (UPI) -- The seizure of illegal immigrants' financial records from a tax preparer in Colorado has sparked a civil rights lawsuit, sources say.

The New York Times reported Monday that last year local authorities raided Amalia's Translation and Tax Services in Greeley, Colo., where several illegal immigrants went to pay their annual income taxes.

"My clients wanted to do what any other American does," owner Amalia Cerrillo said. "And they wanted to show that they paid their taxes if there is ever a chance for amnesty or a green card."

When officers from the Weld County Sheriff's Office seized the records they allegedly told her they were looking for people with fraudulent Social Security numbers, which are commonly used by illegal immigrants to get work.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado last week filed a lawsuit in state court, arguing that by seizing and retaining confidential tax information, Weld County authorities violated privacy rights of thousands of taxpayers.

"If the sheriff and the (district attorney) can comb through thousands of records in a tax preparer's office on the theory that some of their clients are doing something wrong, then none of our confidential information is safe," said Mark Silverstein, the ACLU chapter's legal director.

The Internal Revenue Service says illegal immigrants paid almost $50 billion in taxes from 1996 to 2003.