Ernst: Cross-Referencing SSNs Is Key to Catch Illegals Holding CDLs, Study Minnesota Fraudsters to See If That Was ‘Template’

During an interview aired on Friday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “Katie Pavlich Tonight,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) said that one crucial way to help combat illegal immigrants having commercial driver’s licenses is to cross-reference Social Security numbers. She also stated that it’s important to study the actions of fraudsters in Minnesota, “and then look across other states to see if that was a template in other states.”

Ernst said, “I think that’s an important part is to start with that Social Security number and then do the cross-referencing, does the Social Security number belong to someone who is 105 years old? So, there are simple ways that we can check. And part of the DOGE effort that I have had in the United States Congress is to go back and look at greater efficiencies in federal government and finding a way that we can cross-reference all of these databases that exist across all of the different agencies in our federal government. Great place to start, it will flag anything that looks unusual, and then we can go down that rabbit hole and find out who is claiming those Social Security numbers.”

Ernst also talked about fraud at the state level and said, “Great place to start, just take a look at Minnesota — and we think this is just the tip of the iceberg — but study what those fraudsters did and how they circumvented certain areas of the law to scheme and scam the American people to get those taxpayer dollars, use that as an example, and then look across other states to see if that was a template in other states. And I guarantee, you are going to find fraud in those other states as well.”

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