An illegal immigrant from Jamaica, who allegedly overstayed her tourism visa by more than a decade, is accused of committing marriage fraud to stay in the country, joining the Army to expedite becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen, and then fraudulently claiming disability benefits through veterans’ services.
Britney Sherene Curry, 26, a Jamaican national living in Charlotte, North Carolina, was indicted by a grand jury on federal charges of conspiring to commit immigration fraud, making false statements under oath in immigration documents, unlawfully procuring U.S. citizenship, mail fraud, and wire fraud, the Justice Department announced on Thursday.
Authorities say Curry entered the United States on a six-month B-2 travel visa in 2015 but never left. Curry allegedly paid a third party to arrange a fraudulent marriage between herself and an American citizen for the purpose of avoiding deportation. According to charging documents, Curry and her purported husband met for the first time on the day of their marriage and never lived together before or after the nuptials.
Following their marital union, per prosecutors, Curry became a lawful permanent resident of the United States and then joined the Army, which allowed her to apply to become a naturalized U.S. citizen immediately, instead of having to wait the three-year minimum.
Curry allegedly provided false information about her marriage under penalty of perjury in immigration documents and used her newly acquired citizenship status to petition for her mother to become a lawful permanent resident as well.
Less than two years after enlisting in the Army, officials say Curry applied for a medical discharge and was awarded Veterans Administration disability compensation. Curry allegedly claimed her husband as a dependent to increase her monthly benefit.
The charges were brought in a Missouri court. All veteran disability benefits pass through the Federal Disbursement Services in Kansas City, and all immigration applications are initially processed at the National Benefits Center of U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.
Curry faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison on the wire and mail fraud charges, and up to 10 years in prison for some of the immigration charges, and the possibility of being denaturalized.
The prosecution is one of the federal fraud cases pursued through the establishment of President Donald Trump’s multi-agency task force to eliminate fraud within federal benefit programs, a whole-of-government effort spearheaded by Vice President JD Vance.
