How Trump can curb document fraud, voter fraud, and illegal immigration.

Before the election, with the caravan of Central Americans still marching toward the U.S. border, President Trump announced that he would issue an executive order to end “birthright citizenship,” a magnet for illegals from around the world, particularly Mexico.

“It’s ridiculous, and it has to end,” the president said. “It will happen, with an executive order.”

The statement drew immediate fire from the open-border precincts, and even from Republicans such as Paul Ryan. While the president ponders action, he might consider another executive order that could help halt document fraud, voter fraud, and illegal immigration. As a recent case confirms, these all go together.

Last year, an investigation by the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service found that Mexican national Gustavo Araujo Lerma applied for U.S passports under the assumed identity of Hiram Enrique Velez, a deceased U.S. citizen. The assassin in The Day of the Jackal used the same trick, simply find records of someone who passed away, then steal the identity of the deceased. Frederick Forsythe’s novel was published in 1971 but American officials were slow to catch on.

Gustavo Araujo Lerma used the fraudulent identity for more than 25 years. During that time, the Mexican national obtained legal permanent resident status and ultimately U.S. citizenship for Maria Eva Velez, his wife. The couple had previously married in Mexico but did so again in Los Angeles in 1992 under the fake identity. This allowed Maria Velez illegally to obtain status as the purported wife of a U.S. citizen, but there was more to it.

The courts charge that Araujo “committed illegal alien voting” by using the identity of Hiram Velez in numerous federal, state and local elections. The Mexican national wound up charged with aggravated identity theft, passport fraud, conspiracy to commit unlawful procurement of naturalization and citizenship, and five counts of voting by an alien.

How many others have committed similar passport fraud, identity theft and voted illegally is unknown but the ballpark figure is doubtless quite high, since an MIT study estimates that 22 million illegals now live in the United States. In a nation based on the rule of law, this cannot be allowed to stand.

President Trump should issue an executive order mandating that the U.S. Department of State cross-check every passport application with birth and death records. This is the computer age, so a check can be accomplished swiftly and accurately. Those government officials who fail to comply with the order should be exposed, fired, and charged with obstruction of justice.

Those foreign nationals who rip off the identity of the dead, in the style of Mexican fraudster Gustavo Araujo Lerma, should be immediately referred to the Department of Justice for prosecution, then deported. As a matter of course, citizenship should be stripped from anyone who used fraudulent means to obtain it. For legitimate citizens and legal immigrants, a lot is at stake.

In 2016, Donald Trump estimated that three to five million illegals had caused him to lose the popular vote, which Democrat Hillary Clinton carried by 2.8 million votes, most of them in California. Trump launched a commission on voter fraud headed by Mike Pence and Kris Kobach but California Secretary of State Alex Padilla refused to participate and wouldn’t let anyone see the data. Padilla clearly has something to hide and that raises questions about the 2018 mid-term election.

Republicans did well in the governor’s races but California Democrat Gavin Newsom, former mayor of San Francisco, has appointed himself head of the anti-Trump vanguard. “It’s time to roll the credits on the politics of chaos and the politics of cruelty,” Newsom told his followers. “Now is time for going far and going together. Now is the time for decency, for facts, for trust, and now is the time for truth.”

Newsom didn’t mention the fact that San Francisco is openly registering illegals to vote, a clear violation of the law. Neither did Newsom reveal any truth about illegal voting statewide, which California Democrats have been actively promoting.

The state Department of Motor Vehicles “motor voter” program automatically registers to vote those who get driver’s licenses, and since 2015 the DMV has issued licenses to more than one million illegals. The DMV isn’t saying how many illegals actually showed up to vote, and leading Democrats have been blocking any revelations.

In September, the DMV announced 23,000 “erroneous” registrations, which prompted some legislators to call for an audit. Best suited for that task is nonpartisan state auditor Elaine Howle, a tireless sleuth who uncovered the secret $175 million slush fund of University of California president Janet Napolitano, despite her efforts to deceive the auditors.

Instead of Howle, outgoing governor Jerry Brown tapped his own Department of Finance and the result of its sham audit, better described as a cover-up, would not be revealed until March, 2019. By then, sanctuary state supporter Jerry Brown, who failed in three runs for president, would be out of office.

Legitimate citizens and legal immigrants could be forgiven for believing that voter fraud made the difference for Democrats in many 2016 and 2018 races. Executive orders to end birthright citizenship and prevent identity thieves from getting passports would surely make a difference in 2020. President Trump should issue both orders and see what happens.