Columns

By Congressman Robert Hurt

Every day our office receives hundreds of phone calls, e-mails, faxes, and letters from people across the 5th District regarding the pressing issues that affect Central and Southside Virginians and all Americans.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) estimates that as many as 9 million Americans have their identities stolen each year. Identity thieves use identifying information such as a consumer’s Social Security number, credit card numbers, or other financial account information in order to conduct such fraud as opening up new credit cards and gaining access to bank accounts. The ramifications from such crimes can be financially disastrous for citizens and can be extremely difficult to resolve.

    The pictures from London and several other British cities this month, with buildings ablaze, made me think of the World War II Blitz. Of course, the extent of the damage was nowhere near as great and, in this case the British were doing it to themselves. Gangs of teens and young adults roamed through certain neighborhoods setting fires, attacking people and pillaging shops.

    This was not a race riot. The mobs were racially mixed.

What if I told you that every year the U.S. government holds a national immigration ‘lottery’ by which 50,000 individuals become legal permanent residents of the U.S. purely at random and that since 1995 nearly one million visas have been handed out through this program. Most of my constituents are shocked to learn that such a program exists.