California Green Card Marriage Fraud Ring: A Story of Profit and Prison Sentences

By: Richard Hanus

 

As access to our legal immigration system continues to be plagued by obstacles and exceptionally limited options, illegal avenues to life in the U.S. continue to make for profitable business for ambitious, unscrupulous entrepreneurs. One recent example involves an enterprise with 600 immigrant customers being charged $20,000 to $35,000 each to be set up in fake marriages in order to obtain U.S. resident (Green Card) status. In the past week, the chief architects and operators of this enterprise received prison sentences of 1 to 2 years along with other penalties following an extensive federal investigation and prosecution.

The California based marriage fraud ring operated from 2016 through 2022 and was steered by 7 individuals, all Philippine nationals residing in the U.S. These individuals were convicted on marriage/immigration document fraud related charges, with their actions being fairly typical of Green Card marriage fraud rings of the past. They marketed their services to desperate foreign nationals seeking U.S. resident status, recruited and paid U.S. citizens to marry and file documentation on their customers’ behalf and coached the parties on how to appear the role of a bona fide married couple and prepare documentation reflecting a shared life and residence.

The fraud ring equipped its customers with an all encompassing charade, including staging sham wedding ceremonies at chapels and parks with online faux clergy officiating and taking photos of their customers with their U.S. citizen spouse/petitioners in front of prop wedding decorations. The ring then prepared and filed its customers’ marriage-based immigration applications with U.S. Department of Homeland Security/ Citizenship and Immigration Service (DHS/CIS). Finally, customers were provided extensive training on how to present themselves before DHS/CIS officers for their Green Card interviews, including the best body language to display and how to answer typical lifestyle questions and cover up the true nature of the manufactured relationship.

Based on my decades of experience as a practicing immigration attorney, I am confident in asserting that the vast majority of immigration law violations in our nation stem from a foreign national’s burning desire to work and build a better life for themselves and their families. These violators sneak through the border, overstay their visas, or go so far as to become a customer of a marriage fraud ring. By no means should this commentary be seen as excusing the immigration law violators. On the contrary, mine is just an explanation and observation taking note that if there were a realistic “right way” available, the vast majority of these law breakers would be lining up to file appropriate documentation, including the millions of undocumented who have been living here in the shadows for decades. Indeed, there is much to fix within our nation’s immigration system, and one of the first places we need to start is by creating more options for ambitious and motivated foreign nationals desperate to make the most of their lives in our nation. From there, I have no doubt, our nation will see numerous economic and other benefits, including an improvement to the integrity of our immigration system.

For more about the prosecution of the above marriage fraud ring, see https://www.justice.gov/usao- ma/pr/operators-large-scale-marriage- fraud-agency-sentenced For the latest, most important U.S. immigration law news, be sure to sign up to receive “Richard’s Blog” (published biweekly) – at https://www.usavisacounsel.com/newsletter

PUBLISHED April 1, 2024– “RICHARD’S BLOG” Copyright © 2024, By Law Offices of Richard Hanus, Chicago, Illinois