SC: Feds charge 28 with participating in fake marriages

Posted on Thu, May. 10, 2007

Feds charge 28 with participating in fake marriages
S.C. residents helped Bulgarians bypass immigration laws, indictments say
By LEE HIGGINS - lhiggins@thestate.com

FLORENCE — Nineteen people were arraigned here Wednesday on federal charges they arranged or participated in fake marriages involving Bulgarians in South Carolina and Georgia to evade U.S. immigration laws.

In all, 28 people have been charged in the Bulgarian marriage scheme that prosecutors say stretches back nearly 10 years.

Wednesday was the first appearance in court in South Carolina for the 19, who are out on bail. The other nine either are being sought, were unable to appear or failed to appear. All 28 face charges that include conspiracy to defraud the United States.

According to the indictment, two Bulgarians and three U.S. citizens recruited and paid U.S. citizens to marry Bulgarians so they could gain “permanent resident status and/orâ€

The more I read the more ill I become. Our sorry excuse for government has wasted billions of dollars "fighting terror" and "securing the borders of Iraq" while we apparently have terrorist from every part of the world living amongst us, most of whom are criminal minded and living as our neighbors.