If he was paying taxes during that time period he was also committing a felony.

Sounds like B.S.

Anyone not eligible for a SSN can get a TIN and pay taxes to the IRS.

* https://www.irs.gov/tin/itin/individual-taxpayer-identificat... * https://www.nilc.org/resources/itinfaq/

And all those payments has contributed trillions of dollars https://www.cato.org/blog/cato-study-immigrants-reduced-defi...

I like this theory of paying taxes is a felony, tell me more!!

Levity aside, working on a tourist visa is a violation but generally isn't prosecuted as a felony.

Also the grandparent post said "They seized a white Irishman last October who had a valid work permit and was just about to head to his green card interview."

If he had a valid work permit I suppose this means that he was allowed to work and pay taxes on that work, in other words - no, he was not committing a felony.

All you need to pay taxes is an SSN. One can get an SSN in many ways, e.g. long ago on another visa. Same as income to pay on -- can be earned in many ways.