HOUSTON – The Salvation Army defended its practice this week of requiring at least one Social Security number for each family registering their children to receive Christmas gifts.

Some had seen the practice as a way to check immigration status, but the charity said it's a way to cut down on fraud.

"Our work is not to verify immigration status," Juan Alanis, a spokesman for the Salvation Army in the Houston area, said Tuesday. "That's really not something that we're concerned with."

The controversy came up after the Houston Chronicle reported that the Salvation Army and another charity, Outreach Program Inc., were requiring Social Security numbers or documents that indicate immigration status.

The Salvation Army in the Houston area asks for at least a child or parent's Social Security number so a family can register children to receive toys.

It's a way to deter families from going to various Salvation Army centers and registering at each one, Alanis said.

Nationally, the charity does not have a policy requiring the people it aids to present documents to verify U.S. citizenship.

And in North Texas, immigration status is not an issue for children receiving gifts in the annual Angel Tree program, spokesman Patrick Patey said.

"We serve people without discrimination. That's right in the mission statement of the Salvation Army," Patey said.

The Associated Press and

staff writer Eric Aasen