Thread: Chicago psychiatrist and counselor indicted for citizenship fraud

I.C.E. News Release

DOCUMENT AND BENEFIT FRAUD

12/04/2015


Chicago psychiatrist and counselor indicted for citizenship fraud

CHICAGO — A psychiatrist and counselor in a Chicago medical practice were both arrested Thursday on charges they falsely diagnosed individuals as disabled in order to help them bypass certain tests to obtain U.S. citizenship.

This indictment was announced by U.S. Attorney Zachary T. Fardon, Northern District of Illinois; James Gibbons, acting special agent-in-charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Chicago; and Michael J. Anderson, special agent-in-charge of FBI’s Chicago office.

According to an indictment returned last month in U.S. District Court in Chicago, Dr. Marek Walczyk and Katarzyna Fergemann fraudulently declared U.S. citizenship applicants as suffering from a physical or mental impairment that purportedly rendered them unable to demonstrate the required knowledge of U.S. history and the English language. A medical certification of impairment allows individuals to seek an exemption from the civics and English-language tests required for naturalized U.S. citizenship.

Federal authorities arrested Walczyk and Fergemann Thursday. During an arraignment before U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria Valdez, Walczyk and Fergemann pleaded not guilty and were released on $15,000 unsecured appearance bonds.

Walczyk, 59, of Norridge, Illinois, and Fergemann, 38, of Chicago, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, and two counts of attempted unlawful procurement of citizenship or naturalization. The conspiracy count is punishable by up to five years in prison, while the attempted unlawful procurement counts each carry a maximum sentence of 10 years.

Walczyk is a licensed psychiatrist who operates a medical practice on the northwest side of Chicago.

Fergemann is employed by the practice as a licensed counselor. According to the indictment, Fergemann prepared a written report stating that she administered diagnostic testing procedures on an individual seeking to apply for U.S. citizenship. Fergemann also stated that the tests revealed the individual suffered from a social anxiety disorder, panic disorder and major depressive disorder, as well as a learning impairment resulting from those conditions. Fergemann issued the report knowing that the individual did not suffer from a physical or mental impairment, the indictment states.

Walczyk fraudulently certified Fergemann’s results as true and correct on U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Form N-648, titled “Medical Certification for Disability Exceptions,” the indictment states. The false certification allowed the individual to request a physical or mental impairment exception to the civics and English-language tests required for U.S. citizenship, according to the indictment.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Fluhr, Northern District of Illinois, is prosecuting this case.

The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ch...izenship-fraud

These immigration crimes are all over the place. They catch the perp---but what about all the clients that got away? Maybe, in the human smuggling cases, they should plea deal with the perp, to find out all of the clientele he/she had. And then there are the prostitution rings, where they convict the trafficker, and then give the women visas to stay. From what I read of federal law, the women who are guilty of prostitution would also be required to be deported, as crimes of moral turpitude. Who cares if they were "coerced" they shouldn't have sneaked in here in the first place; it's assuming a risk by stepping into the underworld of international vice and crime.

"A medical certification of impairment" also entitles them to SSI forever and SS is trying to cut payments to OUR seniors. Where is the honesty amongst those trying to acquire citizenship and those that are helping them in such a defrauding, lying way? It is the admin's fault for allowing illegals to stay here and to take in enormous amounts of refugees that have NO DESIRE to assimilate, to be an AMERICAN.

I think the GOP would be more successful with a patchwork amelioration of federal entitlement issues, rather than the sweeping changes that people like Paul Ryan come up with. Social Security is the Third Rail, but other programs like addressing SSI could get traction from the general population. SSI has been discussed, and even though it was trimmed back quite a lot in the 1996 reforms, it has crept back to being a go-to welfare program for people who don't get other things. I saw an article on VDARE about foreign born recipients of SSI, some of whom have family property in some other country that they don't disclose. Also the Boston Globe did an expose (pretty good for a city like Boston), a lot of it on juveniles who get SSI for 15-16 years, when maybe they should only get it for 3-4. Plus it's cultural, a lot of the kids are diagnosed with learning disorders which is really subjective. Plus the GOP could address similar, inefficient programs, and ones with a lot of fraud, and piece together a significant reform that doesn't cut into Social Security itself.

But that would be too much work. Expect Democrats to make a big issue of it, if the GOP even talks about doing sweeping SS changes, not that their approaches are much better.

All the foreign born bring their parents into the SS office at 65 for SSI - never worked a day here, never paid a dime into it. Welfare is $200 a month, SSI is $750. They know @ keeping their bank account under $2000 to continue eligibility.