#immigration-fraud

#immigration-fraud

Con artists posing as immigration lawyers created fake legal documents and even staged sham court proceedings to dupe migrants seeking legal pathways to U.S. residency out of their hard-earned money, according to a five-count indictment unsealed in Brooklyn Federal Court on Friday. The indictment charges five defendants with wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, and two counts of false impersonation of an officer or employee of the United States, according to U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella, Jr.

WASHINGTON The Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday that it launched what it described as the largest immigration enforcement operation ever carried out by the agency with 2,000 federal agents and officers expected in the Minneapolis area for a crackdown tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents. "The largest DHS operation ever is happening right now in Minnesota," the department said in a post on X, dramatically expanding the federal law enforcement footprint in the state amid heightened political and community tensions.

Alerted by a tip-off, police began investigating in 2024 that a préfecture employee named only as 'Rico' was advertising the delivery of carte de séjour residency permits in exchange for cash.

She was initially charged in March 2021 and was convicted in 2022 for conspiracy to do an act to facilitate to commission of breach of UK immigration law by a non-UK national, and of conspiracy to possess identity documents with intent. During her sentencing, the judge concluded that the charity had been used as a front, and that the evidence showed she was using OBAC as a way of disguising her dishonest activities and potentially finding people with whom she could take money.