Earlier today the Dept of Justice announced charges against 11 defendants in a fraudulent marriage scheme to obtain U.S. green cards.  The defendants and co-conspirators were mainly of Chinese origin.

DOJ Press Release – A two-count indictment was unsealed today charging 11 individuals with conspiring, over the course of more than a decade, to orchestrate more than 1,000 sham marriages to fraudulently obtain immigration status for foreign nationals, primarily citizens of the People’s Republic of China. Some individuals paid up to $100,000 per sham marriage, according to the indictment.

“This Department of Justice is rooting out fraud everywhere — including in our immigration system,” said Attorney General Todd Blanche. “The individuals who were arrested today allegedly orchestrated elaborate schemes to illegally obtain citizenship for foreign nationals through sham marriages. Schemes like this are a deliberate affront to the United States and our laws and will not be tolerated under the Trump Administration.”

“The defendants and their co-conspirators allegedly operated a nationwide and international, multimillion-dollar marriage fraud scheme, using participants to abuse United States immigration laws for their own profit,” said U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald for the Southern District of New York. “Today’s arrests have dismantled a central component of one of the largest marriage fraud schemes charged in United States history.  As this prosecution shows, we and our law enforcement partners will relentlessly pursue those seeking to corrupt and exploit our nation’s lawful immigration system.”

“Anyone willing to lie, cheat or steal their way to legal immigration status is a direct threat to America’s national security,” said Director Joseph B. Edlow of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). “U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is aggressively pursuing marriage fraud schemes and the criminal organizations and ringleaders who profit from them. USCIS will continue to expose fraud, defend the rule of law, and ensure immigration status is reserved for those who truly qualify.”

“As alleged, this decade-long scheme turned marriage fraud into an international business model arranging countless sham marriages and causing hundreds of fraudulent Green Card applications to be submitted to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services,” said Acting Executive Associate Director John Condon of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). “Through the Homeland Security Task Force, HSI and our partners will continue to dismantle criminal networks that undermine the rule of law, exploit federal laws, and profit from fraud.” (read more)