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.

Anti-ICE ‘digital Minutemen’ use military-grade surveillance tactics against feds

Trump claims DNI Tulsi Gabbard was at Georgia election hub search because AG Pam Bondi wanted her there

Jill Biden’s ex-husband, now charged with murder, called wife ‘greatest thing in my life’

Arctic blast fuels scrutiny of Biden’s $8B electric bus push as watchdogs cite oversight failures

Jeffries risks fresh fracture with Schumer over ICE funding red line

Suspect Arrested After 30-Year-Old Woman Is Killed ‘Execution Style’ While Opening Her Business

Far-Left ‘Journalist’ Blames Conservatives After WaPo Layoffs – Apparently We Should Fund Our Own Smear Campaign

‘Anti-ICE Antifa TERRORIST’ arrested in Minneapolis for threatening federal agents: DOJ

Dem rising star who called Trump ‘con man’ spent over $120k on luxury hotels, transportation and security

Targeted for their faith overseas, persecuted Christians get a White House welcome under Trump

Graphic Video: LA Rioters Leave Female Journalist on the Concrete and Anti-ICE Mobs Go After 2 Other Female Journalists in Sanctuary City Nightmare

Trump Gives the Guthrie Family Everything He Can as Search Continues: ‘We Are Deploying All Resources’

The legal case for and against nationalizing elections

Illinois bar owner killed in ‘execution-style’ shooting, suspect with decades-long criminal record in custody

Pennsylvania hospital blaze forces patients to be evacuated

“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.