Thread: Marriage fraud draws new focus after 9/11 (bogus visa's)

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/s ... ge%2Cvisas



Marriage fraud draws new focus after 9/11
By Peter Shinkle
Of the Post-Dispatch
03/07/2005

In 1999, Komal Zaheer married Asim Haroon at the Islamic Foundation in west St. Louis County, an event that she says is preserved in a certificate from the mosque.

The next year, someone filed documents with the government claiming that Asim Haroon's brother, Ali Haroon, had married Zaheer in Pakistan.

Federal immigration officials say those documents were part of a bogus plan to get a visa for Ali Haroon to live in this country. Zaheer, who told authorities that her husband had threatened to kill her if she revealed the scheme, came forward after he allegedly beat her so badly that she was hospitalized.

Now Asim Haroon, 32, of Wentzville, has been charged in federal court in St. Louis with one count of visa fraud, and in St. Louis County Circuit Court with one count of second-degree domestic assault. His attorney denies the allegations. His brother is being held for deportation proceedings.

Marriage fraud and other types of immigration fraud have drawn attention from prosecutors since the country tightened enforcement of immigration laws after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. Attorney Jim Martin said.

Federal investigators have uncovered marriage fraud schemes - ranging from basic financial crimes to those that have links to terrorism - across the country:

The owner of a Mexican restaurant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was convicted in January of conspiracy for arranging fraudulent marriages between Mexican nationals and workers in his restaurant.

An Egyptian man was arrested in January on charges that he ran a business from his hot dog cart on Washington streets that provided American brides for Middle Eastern men seeking permanent residency. He arranged at least 100 phony marriages, a criminal complaint said.

A man pleaded guilty last year in California of a marriage fraud conspiracy in which Americans were paid to marry Cambodians so the Cambodians could get immigrant visas to the United States.

Some terrorists have used fraudulent marriages to stay in the United States, according to the nonprofit Center for Immigration Studies. One of them was Fadil Abdelghani, who is serving a 25-year sentence for his role in a 1993 plot to bomb New York landmarks.

There is no allegation of any link to terrorism in the charges against Haroon.

Zaheer, a native of Pakistan, was 16 when she married Haroon in December 1999 at the Islamic Foundation. Haroon, also from Pakistan, had been married once before to a U.S. citizen, then divorced. In 1998, he was denied full citizenship status amid allegations that he had arranged a marriage "for immigration benefit," officials said.

Raymond Bolourtchi, Haroon's attorney, denied the latest charges stated in a federal complaint and an accompanying affidavit by a federal immigration agent.

"We will vehemently deny the allegations made in the affidavit, and we expect to fight this case all the way through," he said.

Attitudes toward fraudulent marriages have not always been so rigid, and they have even at times been portrayed in a romantic light. A fraudulent marriage provided the plot in the movie "Green Card," in which a Frenchman marries an American to get permanent resident status, or a "green card," only to later fall in love with her.

Two decades ago, immigration law was considered weak, as an immigrant could get permanent residency after the married couple appeared just once before an immigration official to vouch for the genuineness of their wedlock.

In 1986, Congress passed the Immigration Marriage Fraud Amendments Act in a bid to curb the illicit conduct. The law required spouses entering the country to receive residency at first only on a conditional basis, and it required applicants to appear at a second hearing two years later for the residency to become permanent.

In the second hearing, a husband and wife are often questioned closely about their relationship, said Bill Strassberger, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. Officials have developed techniques for questioning to detect bogus marriages, he said. For example, they can ask questions separately about events both spouses should have knowledge of, he said. "If you don't know some things, that's fine. If you don't know anything, that's a problem," he said.

In addition, immigration officials have begun videotaping the interviews, he said. Citizens vouching for a foreign spouse are informed that they are subject to criminal penalties if they lie. The new practice led to an increase in the number of people who simply failed to appear for the second hearing, he said.

Still, how often marriage fraud occurs remains unclear. Strassberger said his agency did not track how many marriage fraud cases have been prosecuted in recent years.

What is clear, though, is that large numbers of people are using marriage visas to enter the country every year. In the federal fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2003, spouses accounted for 184,741 of the 705,827 people admitted to the country, immigration data show.

The trend is underscored by the growth of companies that specialize in connecting Americans with foreign women. The Web site RussianBrides.com, for instance, features hundreds of photos of Russian women - complete with their age, weight and height. The site offers tours to Russia for men to meet the women, and a link to a Web site for a law firm that devotes its practice to "fiancee and marriage visas."

Another factor contributing to the large number of spouses immigrating is the fact that many immigrants have brought to this country a tradition of arranged marriages. Some of these immigrants return to their home countries to find a mate. Such relationships can bring together two people who meet only shortly before their matrimony. That can make more difficult the work of immigration officials trying to sort legitimate marriages from bogus ones, Strassberger said.

International marriages run afoul of the law when they are based on fraud. In the extreme, marriage fraud raises the possibility of human trafficking, as women who travel here from other countries can be forced to engage in prostitution out of fear that their spouses might have them deported, federal officials say.

Previous allegations

Asim Haroon, born in Lahore, Pakistan, came to this country in 1993 on a tourist visa, according to an affidavit filed in the case against him in federal court in St. Louis. The following year, a U.S. citizen he had married filed a petition to get him residency, said the affidavit by an immigration agent, Tyson Imming. In October 1996, immigration officials approved his request to remove the conditional basis of his residency, Imming wrote.

In 1998, Haroon was denied citizenship, as he had made false statements under oath to obtain an immigration benefit, Imming wrote. Investigative reports in his file show that a Pakistani, Sheikh Waheed, and a U.S. citizen, Jolanda Valley, identified Haroon as "the facilitator of an arranged marriage for immigration benefit," Imming said. "Prosecution was declined in this case," he noted, without further explanation.

The next year, Haroon married Zaheer. Haroon had not yet been divorced from his American wife, so St. Louis County denied the couple a marriage license, but the marriage took place at the Islamic Foundation with the approval of Zaheer's mother, Zaheer told Imming.

They eventually had a child, a boy who is now 4 years old.

In April 2000, an application was filed seeking a resident visa for Haroon's brother, Ali Haroon, on the grounds that he was the husband of "Komal Haroon," Imming reported in his affidavit.

Komal Zaheer said she didn't file the documents, and that she signed many papers at the instructions of her husband, who beat her, Imming reported. Zaheer said that while she was listed as the petitioner on the application, she did not file it and that the signature on it was not hers.

On Dec. 4, Bridgeton police arrested Asim Haroon on a charge of domestic assault in an incident that took place along a ramp onto Interstate 270. Two days later, Zaheer and her mother told immigration agents from the Department of Homeland Security about the alleged marriage fraud.

Zaheer said her husband threatened that if she did not lie at an upcoming hearing on Ali Haroon's visa application, immigration officials would be told of the 2001 robbery conviction of Zaheer's brother, Syed Mughal, according to the affidavit.

But she also claimed a more sinister threat. She said Asim Haroon warned that if she revealed the scheme, she would be deported along with the two brothers because she was involved. "After their deportation, Asim told her she would be killed," the affidavit said.

Agents later taped a telephone conversation between Zaheer and her husband before arresting him Feb. 25, court records show.

Reporter Peter Shinkle:
E-mail: pshinkle@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 314-621-5804

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/s ... ge%2Cvisas



Marriage fraud draws new focus after 9/11
By Peter Shinkle
Of the Post-Dispatch
03/07/2005

In 1999, Komal Zaheer married Asim Haroon at the Islamic Foundation in west St. Louis County, an event that she says is preserved in a certificate from the mosque.

The next year, someone filed documents with the government claiming that Asim Haroon's brother, Ali Haroon, had married Zaheer in Pakistan.

Federal immigration officials say those documents were part of a bogus plan to get a visa for Ali Haroon to live in this country. Zaheer, who told authorities that her husband had threatened to kill her if she revealed the scheme, came forward after he allegedly beat her so badly that she was hospitalized.

Now Asim Haroon, 32, of Wentzville, has been charged in federal court in St. Louis with one count of visa fraud, and in St. Louis County Circuit Court with one count of second-degree domestic assault. His attorney denies the allegations. His brother is being held for deportation proceedings.

Marriage fraud and other types of immigration fraud have drawn attention from prosecutors since the country tightened enforcement of immigration laws after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. Attorney Jim Martin said.

Federal investigators have uncovered marriage fraud schemes - ranging from basic financial crimes to those that have links to terrorism - across the country:

The owner of a Mexican restaurant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was convicted in January of conspiracy for arranging fraudulent marriages between Mexican nationals and workers in his restaurant.

An Egyptian man was arrested in January on charges that he ran a business from his hot dog cart on Washington streets that provided American brides for Middle Eastern men seeking permanent residency. He arranged at least 100 phony marriages, a criminal complaint said.

A man pleaded guilty last year in California of a marriage fraud conspiracy in which Americans were paid to marry Cambodians so the Cambodians could get immigrant visas to the United States.

Some terrorists have used fraudulent marriages to stay in the United States, according to the nonprofit Center for Immigration Studies. One of them was Fadil Abdelghani, who is serving a 25-year sentence for his role in a 1993 plot to bomb New York landmarks.

There is no allegation of any link to terrorism in the charges against Haroon.

Zaheer, a native of Pakistan, was 16 when she married Haroon in December 1999 at the Islamic Foundation. Haroon, also from Pakistan, had been married once before to a U.S. citizen, then divorced. In 1998, he was denied full citizenship status amid allegations that he had arranged a marriage "for immigration benefit," officials said.

Raymond Bolourtchi, Haroon's attorney, denied the latest charges stated in a federal complaint and an accompanying affidavit by a federal immigration agent.

"We will vehemently deny the allegations made in the affidavit, and we expect to fight this case all the way through," he said.

Attitudes toward fraudulent marriages have not always been so rigid, and they have even at times been portrayed in a romantic light. A fraudulent marriage provided the plot in the movie "Green Card," in which a Frenchman marries an American to get permanent resident status, or a "green card," only to later fall in love with her.

Two decades ago, immigration law was considered weak, as an immigrant could get permanent residency after the married couple appeared just once before an immigration official to vouch for the genuineness of their wedlock.

In 1986, Congress passed the Immigration Marriage Fraud Amendments Act in a bid to curb the illicit conduct. The law required spouses entering the country to receive residency at first only on a conditional basis, and it required applicants to appear at a second hearing two years later for the residency to become permanent.

In the second hearing, a husband and wife are often questioned closely about their relationship, said Bill Strassberger, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. Officials have developed techniques for questioning to detect bogus marriages, he said. For example, they can ask questions separately about events both spouses should have knowledge of, he said. "If you don't know some things, that's fine. If you don't know anything, that's a problem," he said.

In addition, immigration officials have begun videotaping the interviews, he said. Citizens vouching for a foreign spouse are informed that they are subject to criminal penalties if they lie. The new practice led to an increase in the number of people who simply failed to appear for the second hearing, he said.

Still, how often marriage fraud occurs remains unclear. Strassberger said his agency did not track how many marriage fraud cases have been prosecuted in recent years.

What is clear, though, is that large numbers of people are using marriage visas to enter the country every year. In the federal fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2003, spouses accounted for 184,741 of the 705,827 people admitted to the country, immigration data show.

The trend is underscored by the growth of companies that specialize in connecting Americans with foreign women. The Web site RussianBrides.com, for instance, features hundreds of photos of Russian women - complete with their age, weight and height. The site offers tours to Russia for men to meet the women, and a link to a Web site for a law firm that devotes its practice to "fiancee and marriage visas."

Another factor contributing to the large number of spouses immigrating is the fact that many immigrants have brought to this country a tradition of arranged marriages. Some of these immigrants return to their home countries to find a mate. Such relationships can bring together two people who meet only shortly before their matrimony. That can make more difficult the work of immigration officials trying to sort legitimate marriages from bogus ones, Strassberger said.

International marriages run afoul of the law when they are based on fraud. In the extreme, marriage fraud raises the possibility of human trafficking, as women who travel here from other countries can be forced to engage in prostitution out of fear that their spouses might have them deported, federal officials say.

Previous allegations

Asim Haroon, born in Lahore, Pakistan, came to this country in 1993 on a tourist visa, according to an affidavit filed in the case against him in federal court in St. Louis. The following year, a U.S. citizen he had married filed a petition to get him residency, said the affidavit by an immigration agent, Tyson Imming. In October 1996, immigration officials approved his request to remove the conditional basis of his residency, Imming wrote.

In 1998, Haroon was denied citizenship, as he had made false statements under oath to obtain an immigration benefit, Imming wrote. Investigative reports in his file show that a Pakistani, Sheikh Waheed, and a U.S. citizen, Jolanda Valley, identified Haroon as "the facilitator of an arranged marriage for immigration benefit," Imming said. "Prosecution was declined in this case," he noted, without further explanation.

The next year, Haroon married Zaheer. Haroon had not yet been divorced from his American wife, so St. Louis County denied the couple a marriage license, but the marriage took place at the Islamic Foundation with the approval of Zaheer's mother, Zaheer told Imming.

They eventually had a child, a boy who is now 4 years old.

In April 2000, an application was filed seeking a resident visa for Haroon's brother, Ali Haroon, on the grounds that he was the husband of "Komal Haroon," Imming reported in his affidavit.

Komal Zaheer said she didn't file the documents, and that she signed many papers at the instructions of her husband, who beat her, Imming reported. Zaheer said that while she was listed as the petitioner on the application, she did not file it and that the signature on it was not hers.

On Dec. 4, Bridgeton police arrested Asim Haroon on a charge of domestic assault in an incident that took place along a ramp onto Interstate 270. Two days later, Zaheer and her mother told immigration agents from the Department of Homeland Security about the alleged marriage fraud.

Zaheer said her husband threatened that if she did not lie at an upcoming hearing on Ali Haroon's visa application, immigration officials would be told of the 2001 robbery conviction of Zaheer's brother, Syed Mughal, according to the affidavit.

But she also claimed a more sinister threat. She said Asim Haroon warned that if she revealed the scheme, she would be deported along with the two brothers because she was involved. "After their deportation, Asim told her she would be killed," the affidavit said.

Agents later taped a telephone conversation between Zaheer and her husband before arresting him Feb. 25, court records show.

Reporter Peter Shinkle:
E-mail: pshinkle@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 314-621-5804