Nearly 100 Indicted, 50 In Custody After Ice Uncovers Large-Scale Marriage Fraud Scheme

Authorities indicted 96 people and arrested 50 for a marriage fraud operation allegedly taking place in Vietnam and Houston.

A months-long Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) probe uncovered a criminal operation that enabled numerous foreign nationals to fraudulently obtain legal immigration status in the U.S., according to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement press release Monday.

Under the alleged terms of conspiracy, immigrant beneficiaries would pay around $50,000 to $70,000 to get married and score permanent resident status. The marriages were complete shams, according to the April indictment.

The spouses typically met only briefly before they obtained their marriage licenses and did not live together after becoming a “married” couple. The criminal operation behind the marriages would go so far as to produce fake wedding albums and falsified tax, utility and employment information — all in an effort to convince USCIS to approve the forms.

Transgender lawmaker ‘doesn’t know what a woman is,’ White House says after dig at Trump firings

Hakeem Jeffries left scrambling after child reporter asks why voters view Democrats so negatively

Rob Reiner’s Oldest Son Speaks Out for First Time Since Parents’ Death: ‘Too Impossible to Process’

Israel Appoints Its First Ever ‘Special Envoy to Christian World’ After Controversial Incidents

UC Berkeley slammed after anti-Israel group hosts failed suicide bomber as guest event speaker: ‘cesspool’

Semitruck driver in deadly interstate crash fraudulently obtained license, citizenship: Officials

How mutiny at Southern Poverty Law Center triggered leadership collapse

Trump DOJ jumps into Musk xAI court battle as diversity fight heats up

GOP lawmaker targets left-wing jury nullification trainings in DC

How Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is embroiled in the Feeding Our Future scandal

Tim Tebow Announces the Death of His Father Like Only a Christian Could

Erika Kirk Quietly Arranged a White House Summit Between Trump and Disgruntled Influencers: Report

SPLC indictment builds momentum for Bessent’s Treasury to probe partisan nonprofits

Justice Department announces it’s readopting the firing squad as a means of execution

DOJ drops investigation into Jerome Powell, clearing way for Trump Fed pick Kevin Warsh

“These arrests mark the culmination of a comprehensive yearlong multi-agency investigation into one of the largest alleged marriage fraud conspiracies ever documented in the Houston area,” Special HSI Agent in Charge Mark Dawson said in a Monday statement. “By working together with our partners from various federal law enforcement agencies, we have sent a resounding message that we are united in our effort to disrupt and dismantle criminal organizations that seek to circumvent U.S. law by fraudulent means.”

The indictment alleges Ashley Yen Nguyen, 53, was the leader of the criminal scheme and had operatives working throughout Texas and Vietnam.

People involved in the conspiracy allegedly recruited U.S. citizens to act as marriage petitioners, who would then receive a cut of the proceeds from the beneficiary spouses. Several people who were recruited as petitioners eventually became recruiters themselves.

Marriage fraud or conspiracy to commit marriage fraud carries a sentence of up to five years in prison. The other charges — including mail fraud, conspiracy to commit mail fraud and tampering with a witness, informant or victim — all carry the possibility of 20 years in federal prison. A federal grand jury returned the indictment on April 30.