Judge: rich Mexicans are “not above the law”

By Guillermo Contreras
Updated 11:02 p.m., Thursday, May 31, 2012

A Laredo woman was sentenced Thursday to five years of probation for helping Mexican entrepreneurs get visas, through fraud, that let them live in the United States.

Chief U.S. District Judge Fred Biery gave Emilia Diaz, 41, who cooperated, the sentence despite his indignation over how her clients gamed the system — they overstated the investments they made in the U.S. or outright lied to get the visas.

Diaz runs E.G. Services, a bookkeeping business that also provides visa services, and she signed a plea deal that says she provided fraudulent paperwork to the State Department in an effort to get up to 24 “E” series visas for clients between 2007 and August 2011. She also agreed to a judgment against her for $250,000.

E-1 and E-2 visas give residency leading to citizenship to Mexicans who are involved in trade or “substantially” invest in certain types of U.S. businesses. The visas are renewable every three to five years.

The judge was told Thursday that the applicants used visa fraud because they were fleeing the violence in Mexico.

Biery said the wealthy visa fraudsters, much like poor immigrants who come here illegally and get deported, are not immune to U.S. laws.

“They think that because they have money and don't get their fingernails dirty that they are above the law,” Biery said. “They need to be gone, too.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret Leachman told the judge that they lost their visas.

At a gathering for media later, U.S. Custom and Border Protection's Lois Hunter, port director in San Antonio, said fraudsters can be barred from the U.S. for five years.

The applicants included Roberto Centino Ulin, owner of Cepin Enterprises Inc., a Shell gas station franchise in San Antonio; his brother-in-law Guillermo Mansur Macias Athie; Ricardo Plascencia of Pecan Imports and Exports Inc.; Hernan Javier Zambrano Garza of Ecogas Inc.; Guillermo Rangel Lopez of Rangel International; Adolfo Eduardo Treviño Osorio and others of Rygo Inc.; Maria Isabel Rubi Gonzalez and Raul Rafael Barajas Llorente of Laquitex; and Adrianna Zarate of Zafra Inc. and her family members.

gcontreras@express-news.net

Judge: Rich Mexicans are 'not above the law' - San Antonio Express-News