Thread: Homeland Security Official Charged with Document Fraud

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Homeland Security official charged with immigration document fraud

By PETE YOST
Associated Press Writer Jun 29, 2006


WASHINGTON - A midlevel manager at the Homeland Security Department was charged with immigration document fraud on Thursday. Court papers indicated his conduct had been questioned for years.

Robert T. Schofield, a district office supervisor for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, appeared in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., and awaited a bond hearing Friday.

An alleged co-conspirator, Qiming Ye, a Chinese citizen, also was charged with immigration document fraud.

Court papers, filed in support of search warrant applications for Schofield's home and office, said there have been numerous allegations of bribery involving Schofield and Asian immigration applicants going back 10 years.

The court papers said that in June 2005, the department told its inspector general's office that Schofield was suspected of accepting bribes from immigrants and of falsifying immigration documents to assist immigrants obtain U.S. citizenship.

Schofield, a federal immigrations officer since 1976, oversees immigration applications under review at the department's district office in Fairfax, Va., Homeland Security spokesman Jarrod Agen said.

The court papers say there is evidence that in the past, Schofield left the United States for East Asia, where he made $36,000 in unauthorized purchases on his government-issued credit card. Schofield had fled to East Asia when confronted by superiors about a relationship with a woman connected to an immigration investigation, the court papers stated. The court papers gave no explanation why Schofield was not fired.

There is evidence that at least 23 people obtained naturalization certificates from Schofield to which they were not entitled, according to the papers.

Schofield and Ye each could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Schofield had not yet retained a lawyer. Ye was given a court-appointed lawyer.

Agen said he did not immediately know whether Schofield had been suspended from his job. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is an arm of Homeland Security.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff refused to discuss the case when asked about it during a speech on border security at the American Enterprise Institute. But he said the department is "very serious about policing ourselves."

"The vast majority of people who work for this agency are dedicated and do a proper job," Chertoff said. "When we find those few who transgress, we will be relentlessly pursuing them."

He added: "I wish we could be perfect. Human existence is not perfect, but I can tell you it is a very small proportion, and there is nothing more important than finding those few bad apples and throwing them out of the barrel."

The department was embarrassed this year when one of its spokesmen, Brian Doyle, was arrested on multiple charges of sexually preying on a 14-year-old girl through an Internet chat room. The girl turned out to be an undercover detective in Florida.

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Just another example of how we are screwed on a daily basis by our government.

Homeland Security official charged with immigration document fraud

What! A corrupt government official? Say it ain't so.

"When we find those few who transgress, we will be relentlessly pursuing them."

Wouldn't it be great if they were "relentlessly' persuing illegals as well?

Court papers, filed in support of search warrant applications for Schofield's home and office, said there have been numerous allegations of bribery involving Schofield and Asian immigration applicants going back 10 years.

The court papers gave no explanation why Schofield was not fired

.

Agen said he did not immediately know whether Schofield had been suspended from his job. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is an arm of Homeland Security.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff refused to discuss the case when asked about it during a speech on border security at the American Enterprise Institute. But he said the department is "very serious about policing ourselves."

Yeh, right