Latest news with #immigrationfraud
New York Times
5 days ago
- New York Times
Louisiana Police Chiefs Accused of Fabricating Robberies in Immigrant Visa Scheme
The police reports, signed by law enforcement officials in otherwise quiet and small Central Louisiana towns, described a rash of armed robberies. The crimes had targeted people with no ties to the region, all of them immigrants struggling to find a toehold in the country. But according to federal investigators, the reports were full of lies. 'In fact, the armed robberies never took place,' Alexander C. Van Hook, the acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, told reporters on Wednesday. Mr. Van Hook and other federal officials said that they had exposed a scheme to exploit a program that offers undocumented immigrants who are victims of crime a path to temporary legal residency and citizenship. A federal grand jury has indicted current and former police chiefs in three communities, another local law enforcement official and a Louisiana businessman whom prosecutors described as the architect of the scheme. Prosecutors said that the chiefs would produce false reports documenting armed robberies. Listed as victims were undocumented immigrants, who the prosecutors said had paid a middle man. They were trying to take advantage of the federal U-visa program, which was created in 2000 and is available to undocumented immigrants who are victims of certain violent crimes. To qualify, applicants have to cooperate with law enforcement officials by helping with investigations and serving as witnesses. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Louisiana police chiefs among those arrested and accused in a bribery scheme to help foreign nationals get visas
A group of current or former Louisiana police chiefs and the operator of a Subway sandwich shop are accused of colluding in a decade-long scheme to falsify police reports to help foreign nationals get visas meant for crime victims or witnesses. A federal grand jury returned a 62-count indictment charging two police chiefs, a former police chief, a marshal and the restaurant operator on charges including bribery, mail fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and immigration fraud, a federal prosecutor said Wednesday. The scheme focused on getting U visas, which allow foreign nationals without any official status in the US to stay in the country in certain circumstances when they're victims of or witnesses to crimes, acting US Attorney Alexander Van Hook of the Western District of Louisiana said. U visas are important in helping law enforcement solve cases, Van Hook said. But the US limits the number of U visas that can be issued, and fraudulent applications can prevent legitimate crime victims or witnesses from getting a visa. The store operator allegedly paid $5,000 to officers to create false police reports saying 24 people were the victims of crimes, Van Hook said. The collusion allegedly took place from December 2015 to July 2025, the prosecutor's office said. The defendants and charges include: – Subway sandwich store operator Chandrakant 'Lala' Patel, of Oakdale, Louisiana, who is charged with bribery, mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to commit visa fraud – Oakdale Police Chief Chad Doyle, who is charged with visa fraud, mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to commit visa fraud – Michael 'Freck' Slaney, a marshal in Oakdale who is charged with visa fraud, mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to commit visa fraud – Police Chief Glynn Dixon of Forest Hill, Louisiana, who is charged with visa fraud, mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to commit visa fraud – Tebo Onishea, former police chief of Glenmora, Louisiana, who is charged with visa fraud, mail fraud and conspiracy to commit visa fraud A 21-page indictment filed in federal court this month includes the first initials and last names of 24 alleged victims – all of whom have the surname Patel. It was not immediately clear if any of those foreign nationals are related to the Subway store operator. This story has been updated with additional information. CNN's Caroll Alvarado, Jeremy Grisham and Devon Sayers contributed to this report.
Khaleej Times
7 days ago
- Khaleej Times
Seven Indian travellers using fake visas arrested after deportation from Dubai: Media reports
Seven Indian travellers using fake visas were caught by authorities at Dubai International Airport, and deported to Mumbai, according to Indian media reports. Immigration officials at Mumbai Airport found the flyers travelled to Dubai on tourist visas, and then attempted to transit using fraudulent Luxembourg Employment Schengen Visas, which had missing security features. Hailing from Gujarat, the suspects allegedly planned to arrive in Europe as tourists and subsequently settle in Luxembourg and other nations. Sahar Police arrested the individuals after the inspection at Mumbai, Indian media said. Behind the scheme is an agent, also from Gujarat, who created the tourist visas and fake Schengen visas. The agent reportedly assured the seven detainees that these visas would allow them to live in Schengen countries and enable them to find employment easily, Indian media reports said.
Reuters
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Haitian ex-mayor gets nine years in US prison for visa fraud tied to political violence
BOSTON, June 20 (Reuters) - A former Haitian mayor was sentenced on Friday to nine years in a U.S. prison after being convicted of illegally obtaining a green card allowing him to reside in the United States by concealing his role in a brutal campaign to kill and torture his political opponents. Jean Morose Viliena, 53, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor in Boston after a jury in March found him guilty of committing what prosecutors in court papers, opens new tab said was "the most egregious type of immigration fraud." They had urged Saylor to sentence him to 10 years in prison, saying a lengthy sentence would "provide justice to the survivors and families of the victims who continue to suffer the effects of the defendant's persecution and concealment." Prosecutors charged Viliena with visa fraud a day after a jury in a civil case in 2023 ordered the former mayor of the rural Haitian town of Les Irois to pay $15.5 million to three Haitians who accused him of persecuting them or their families. Viliena, who at the time of his indictment was working as a truck driver and living in Malden, Massachusetts, has maintained his innocence throughout the litigation. He is appealing the civil verdict and can appeal his conviction as well. His lawyer did not respond to a request for comment. Prosecutors said that in applying for a visa in 2008, Viliena affirmed on a form that he had not "ordered, carried out or materially assisted in extrajudicial and political killings and other acts of violence against the Haitian people." In fact, Viliena, after being elected to a four-year term as mayor of Les Irois in December 2006, personally committed or ordered the maiming, harm, humiliation or death of his adversaries, prosecutors alleged. They said the victims include the three Haitians who pursued the earlier lawsuit, David Boniface, Juders Yseme and Nissage Martyr. That case was filed in 2017 under the Torture Victim Protection Act, which allows for U.S. lawsuits against foreign officials accused of extrajudicial killings or torture when avenues for redress in their home countries are exhausted. Prosecutors said Viliena in 2007 led a group of armed men to Boniface's home who then beat and fatally shot his brother, and later mobilized a group in 2008 that beat and shot Martyr and Yseme at a community radio station.
Al Jazeera
14-06-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Judge rules Mahmoud Khalil can remain in custody amid green card dispute
A United States federal judge has allowed the administration of President Donald Trump to keep student protester Mahmoud Khalil in custody based on allegations of immigration fraud. On Friday, Judge Michael Farbiarz of Newark, New Jersey, ruled that Khalil's legal team had not adequately shown why his detention on the charge would be unlawful. It was a major setback for Khalil, who had been a negotiator for the student protesters at Columbia University demonstrating against Israel's war on Gaza. He was the first high-profile protester to be arrested under Trump's campaign to expel foreign students who participated in pro-Palestinian advocacy. Just this week, Farbiarz appeared poised to order Khalil's release, on the basis that his detention under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 was unconstitutional. That law stipulates that the secretary of state – in this case, Marco Rubio – has the power to remove foreign nationals who have 'potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States'. But Farbiarz ruled that Rubio's use of the law violated Khalil's freedom of speech. Still, the Trump administration filed additional court papers saying it had another reason for wanting to deport Khalil. It alleged that Khalil, a permanent US resident, had omitted information from his green-card application that would have otherwise disqualified him from gaining residency. The Trump administration has long accused Khalil of supporting terrorism through his protest-related activities, something the former graduate student has vehemently denied. In the case of his green-card application, it argues that Khalil failed to disclose his work with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), a humanitarian organisation. Politicians in Israel and the US have accused UNRWA of ties to the armed group Hamas, an allegation reportedly made without evidence. Khalil, however, has denied he was ever an 'officer' in UNRWA, as alleged. Instead, his legal team points out that he completed a United Nations internship through Columbia University. The Trump administration also argues that Khalil did not accurately identify the length of his employment with the Syria Office of the British Embassy in Beirut. Khalil and his legal team, meanwhile, say he accurately identified his departure date from the job as December 2022. Judge Farbiarz had set Friday morning as a deadline for the Trump administration to appeal Khalil's release on bail. But that deadline was extended to give the government more time to challenge Khalil's release. Ultimately, Farbiarz allowed the Trump administration to continue its detention of Khalil. He advised Khalil's lawyers to seek release on bail from the immigration court where his deportation trial is being held in Louisiana. Farbiarz had been weighing a separate habeas corpus petition from the Khalil team that called into question the constitutionality of his continued detention. Marc Van Der Hout, a lawyer for Khalil, told the Reuters news agency that immigration fraud charges are exceedingly rare, and the Trump administration's use of such charges was simply a political manoeuvre to keep Khalil in lock-up. 'Detaining someone on a charge like this is highly unusual and frankly outrageous,' said Van Der Hout. 'There continues to be no constitutional basis for his detention.' Another lawyer representing Khalil, Amy Greer, described the new allegations against his green-card application as part of the government's 'cruel, transparent delay tactics'. She noted that Khalil, a new father whose child was born in April, would miss his first Father's Day, which falls this Sunday in the US. 'Instead of celebrating together, he is languishing in ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] detention as punishment for his advocacy on behalf of his fellow Palestinians,' Greer said in a statement. 'It is unjust, it is shocking, and it is disgraceful.'
