Thread: Illegal Alien Marriage Fraud

Operation Newlywed Game Smashes Illegal Alien Marriage Scam
Jim Kouri, CPP



Jim Kouri, CPP is fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and served in law enforcement for over 25 years. He writes for many police magazines such as Police Times. He's appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. His book Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com. His website is located at http://jimkouri.us

Jim Kouri, CPP
August 1, 2006
One of the key suspects in an elaborate Orange County, CA-based marriage fraud scheme faces up to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty in federal court to charges of visa fraud and conspiracy.

Julie Tran, 50, pleaded guilty on Friday to charges stemming from “Operation Newlywed Game,” a landmark investigation by agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement targeting a marriage fraud scheme involving hundreds of Chinese and Vietnamese nationals.

Tran, who is linked to as many as 75 sham marriages and the filing of more than 100 bogus visa petitions, was arrested by ICE agents in November 2005. Following a consensual search of her Garden Grove residence, agents recovered US passports, miscellaneous immigration and financial documents, and approximately $3,500 in cash.

According to court documents, the marriage fraud scheme, which resulted in 44 indictments, involved a loose-knit network of “facilitators,” “recruiters,” and “petitioners” based in Orange County's Little Saigon.

At the heart of the conspiracy were the facilitators, including Tran, who charged up to $60,000 to orchestrate sham marriages for foreign nationals with US citizens for the purpose of submitting fraudulent immigrant visa petitions on behalf of the aliens. The facilitators often used recruiters, who typically received $1,000 for each referral, to identify US citizens willing to marry the aliens and submit the immigration visa petitions to Citizenship and Immigration Services. The citizen petitioners were paid thousands of dollars, plus travel expenses.

There have been people arrested in South Florida for the same marriage scam. It costs between $10,000 and $20,000.

Just another notch in the illegal alien game.

Here is an example of what our opposition says, that we only focus on the illegal aliens from Mexico and Central America.

I would be interested in other stories about ANY person who is illegal, but for some reason we do not see too many about European/Eastern European illegals, but I'm sure they are out there.

Here in Atlanta they just busted 2 guys and a woman who had married a total of 25 people in the last year. All of the 'spouses' were foreign nationals, half were fron Ghana, the rest from Camaroon, Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe. That's a lot of 'Green Cards'!

There are Eastern European illegals in this country. Many are smuggled in and work as prostitutes in escort services to pay for their fare here. Then there are others who come as a visitor and don't return. Those women often work as health care aides and men work in home renovations or building home furnishings. Some get fake social security cards but they get caught quicker than Hispanics. Many Eastern Europeans are in areas in New Jersey or in California. Many of those that are here hang low and don't abuse our social services as much as they aren't aware of them.