Thread: Dozens Charged in Green Card Fraud in Queens

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/08/ny...e9c&ei=5087%0A

June 8, 2006

By MICHAEL BRICK
A former federal immigration officer and more than two dozen other people were arraigned yesterday on charges of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering, accused of arranging marriages for green cards.

According to a 13-count indictment unsealed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, the illegal activity centered on a business called Help Preparers Professional Services of Queens.

Prosecutors said the company provided hundreds of permanent-residence documents, commonly known as green cards, from April 2001 through November 2005. Charging between $8,000 and $16,000 a person, the business generated more than $1 million in revenues, prosecutors said.

The charges were unsealed two months after the beginning of a federal crackdown, including raids on businesses and task forces on document fraud, undertaken as immigration has moved to the fore of national political debate. Rival factions in Congress are debating guest worker programs and promises of citizenship, and President Bush is seeking to appear tough on security while promoting a compromise plan.

In a 2002 report, the General Accounting Office said that federal immigration agencies lacked the ability to track and manage immigration benefits fraud cases. To promote the new crackdown, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials emphasize the role of document fraud in terrorist plots, noting that seven of the Sept. 11 hijackers used fraudulent residency certificates to obtain genuine Virginia identity documents and board airplanes.

In the New York case, the defendants are accused of using fraudulent marriage documents to obtain green cards. Help Preparers arranged for some clients to marry American citizens under false pretenses and produced documentation of nonexistent marriages for others, according to the indictment.

The business was owned by Beverly Mozer-Browne, 49, of Brooklyn. Her brother, Phillip A. Browne, 40, worked until December as a district adjudication officer for the federal Citizenship and Immigration Services in Manhattan. The Brownes and other defendants in the case who were arraigned yesterday pleaded not guilty.

According to the indictment, Help Preparers used the false marriage documents, along with fraudulent financial documents like fictitious letters from employers, to apply for green cards for its clients. The applications were mailed to Citizenship and Immigration Services, also a part of the Department of Homeland Security, where Mr. Browne approved them without interviewing the applicants, the indictment says.

The indictment charged 28 other people, including 13 employees of Help Preparers, two people who scouted citizens willing to marry clients, two citizens who were paid to enter sham marriages and 11 clients.

Twenty-seven of those charged were arrested yesterday, as of late afternoon.

Shoot, they sell every document imaginable under some of the train tracks and bridges. It's almost like having sidewalk vendors setting up for business!!

New Yorkers know where they are so WHY ISN'T LAW ENFORCEMENT GRABBING THEM?

Originally Posted by 2ndamendsis

Shoot, they sell every document imaginable under some of the train tracks and bridges. It's almost like having sidewalk vendors setting up for business!!

New Yorkers know where they are so WHY ISN'T LAW ENFORCEMENT GRABBING THEM?

The authrorities are not doing anything about it, because Blooomberg handed down an edict making New York city and many surrounding communities who followed suit a safe zone for illegal aliens....add to this the fact that New York is a RIGHT TO WORK state, and you have your answer.

Originally Posted by PintoBean

Originally Posted by 2ndamendsis

Shoot, they sell every document imaginable under some of the train tracks and bridges. It's almost like having sidewalk vendors setting up for business!!

New Yorkers know where they are so WHY ISN'T LAW ENFORCEMENT GRABBING THEM?

The authrorities are not doing anything about it, because Blooomberg handed down an edict making New York city and many surrounding communities who followed suit a safe zone for illegal aliens....add to this the fact that New York is a RIGHT TO WORK state, and you have your answer.

PINTO
this is a FRAUD situation......not a sanctuary situation. Law enforcement in both NY & NJ have the opening to move right in. There's something else going on behind the scenes in both states.