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.

Paul Pelosi Involved in Hit-and-Run, Was Found on Nearby Road with Heavily Damaged Car, Muddled Memory

Trump announces Sikorsky to pay for granite helipad on White House South Lawn

Mexican Fans Scream Slurs and Pelt Opposing Fans with Objects as They’re Eliminated from the World Cup

ICE renews hunt for El Chapo’s last two fugitive sons with massive reward

FLASHBACK: As America turns 250, here’s how the nation celebrated its biggest birthdays

Hungary’s Magyar continues ‘Operation Purgatory’ purges with proposed amendment to oust president

The Democratic Party’s progressive insurgents are turning on Obama

‘Black Woman Surrounded by White Nationalists’ Pic Blows Up in Left’s Face as 2nd Train Photo Goes Viral

Video: July 4 Nightmare – Multiple Black Punks Beat Stew Out of White Female Cop – Imagine if the Races Were Reversed

Trump says he ‘immediately overturned’ decision to cancel July 4 festivities in DC

Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History promotes ‘extreme political activism,’ WH report alleges

New York Harbor whale strike sinks fire rescue boat after July 4 celebrations

Accused Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson fights back against state’s evidence and more top headlines

Unrelenting war in Ukraine sees skyrocketing death toll in fifth year

Federal crime task force sent to Memphis tops 10,000 arrests

“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.