Wednesday, May 14, 2008

12 arrested in alleged marriage-for-citizenship scheme

DALLAS — Type A twelve household members spanning three coevals were arrested Tuesday in connexion with a matrimony fraud ring in which foreign subjects paid up to $12,000 each to get married U.S. citizens, government said.

Eleven people were arrested in the Dallas country and the 12th was arrested in Principal Christi, functionaries said. Four others stay at large.

Authorities said the matrimonies allowed the foreign subjects to use for lasting residence and citizenship.

The alleged confederacy involved assorted strategies to do the deceitful matrimonies look legitimate. Couples filed applications for lasting residence using fraudulently obtained legitimate documents. Some couples used bogus names, birth days of the month and Sociable Security numbers, functionaries said.

Some of the sham matrimonies day of the month to the early 1970s, functionaries said.

The four-year investigation was led by the Document and Benefit Fraud Undertaking Force, which is portion of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Also working on the lawsuit was the Office of Fraud Detection and National Security, which is portion of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

"We will not endure matrimony fraud, or fraud of any kind," said Lisa Kehl, the Dallas territory manager for in-migration services. "We will go on to spouse with other federal agencies to guarantee that in-migration benefits are granted only to eligible applicants."

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