New Bill to Verify Legal Citizenship For Mortgages

Congressman Kenny Marchant (TX) unveiled a new bill this month.

The Mortgage E-Verify Act would introduce as a condition that any applicant for modification of a home mortgage load held by Frannie Mae or Freddie Mac, or insured by the FHA, that the applicant be required to successfully pass through an E-Verify inquiry.

E-Verify is the federally mandated program that determines if someone is legally allowed to work and live in the United States. Marchant said, "E-Verify is a fantastic program which I have supported making permanent for employers. Mandating its use as a condition for home mortgage loan modifications would help eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in the system and bring integrity to the process."

The bill is spurred by a major Nevada case where a mortgage company/branch manager conspired to manufacture and submit false employment and income documentation for borrowers, most of whom were illegal immigrants.

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Violent Sex Offenders Re-Evaluated

The discovery of Jaycee Dugard, the woman who was abducted when she was 11 from a bus stop in Lake Tahoe, NV, has raised many questions about the monitoring and sentencing of men like the one who kidnapped her, Phillip Garrido. Garrido was a convicted, violent sex offender at the time of Dugard's abduction. On parole, officers visited the Garrido home on several occasions and never discovered Dugard and her children living in the backyard. A neighbor even alerted the police that children were there. Police knocked on the front door, but never searched the home or yard.

Many experts believe violent sex offenders can never be rehabilitated and that the likelihood of them offending again is so high that there should be different standards to which they are held. Garrido's first documented offense in 1976 involved an elaborate hideout in Reno, NV where he assaulted a woman for hours after handcuffing and binding her with a leather strap.

Garrido was sentenced to 50 years in prison, but was released after just 10 on parole. Recent laws have made sentences tougher, violent offender's mandatory sentencing was raised from just 5 years to 35. However, advocates of tougher laws are pushing imprisonment and then treatment "for as long as it takes to rehabilitate" the violent offenders. And in some cases, they will never be rehabilitated, which mean, simply, they would never be released.

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Las Vegas Hotel & Nighclub Lax on Background Checks

Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino has agreed to pay $500,000 find to Nevada gaming regulators for failing to properly police the private club, Prive, inside their resort.

In a settlement with the Nevada Gaming Control Board, Planet Hollywood agreed to pay another $250,000 in a year if changes are not made in the operation of the nightclub, which leases space in the resort. If no additional complaints are filed by then, the $250,000 payment will be waived.

Among other charges, Prive was accused of hiring employees with criminal records. Some employees have been accused of removing drunk club goers and dumping them in the Planet Hollywood Casino without help or supervision. Other have been accused of physically and sexually assaulting club goers.

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