The Department of Justice has charged 11 people with participating in a multimillion-dollar scheme to help hundreds of foreign nationals fraudulently obtain green cards through sham marriages to U.S. citizens, officials said Wednesday.
American citizens were paid as much as $30,000 to enter into bogus marriages with immigrants seeking lawful permanent resident status as part of the scheme orchestrated from New York, according to court papers.
The defendants charged up to $100,000 per green card, bringing in tens of millions of dollars over the course of the decade-long scheme, according to officials.
Authorities say they believe the group arranged more than 1,000 sham weddings, describing it as one of the largest marriage fraud prosecutions in U.S. history.
After the ceremonies, scheme participants manufactured evidence to make the marriages appear genuine, including by staging additional photographs, opening joint financial and utility accounts, filing joint tax returns, and obtaining insurance policies.
“This scheme was not a quick, fly-by-night operation but rather a years-long, multibillion-dollar cottage industry to criminally assist people who would not, or legally could not, otherwise become citizens of the United States,” Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters.
The charges come against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s restrictions on both legal and illegal immigration that have sought to crack down on who is able to enter the country or become a citizen.
After recruiting U.S. citizens, the defendants would arrange fake weddings and in some cases stage photos of families at places such as restaurants afterward to make them look legitimate, according to officials. The defendants would then help the immigrants through the lawful permanent status application process.
“These schemes have real cost. They rob our country of its ability to know who should be and who should not be allowed in America,” Blanche said.
Director Joseph B. Edlow of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said: “Anyone willing to lie, cheat or steal their way to legal immigration status is a direct threat to America's national security.”
“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.”
The 11 defendants, including people accused of officiating the sham weddings, are charged in an indictment filed in New York. They are aged between 26 and 72.
It was not immediately clear Wednesday whether they had lawyers to speak on their behalf.
