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.

Slain college student’s mother vows ‘fight for justice’ after illegal immigrant charged in Chicago killing

What? Toronto’s Foreign-Born Mayor Warns ICE to Stay Out of City – Where It Has No Authority

Watch: ICE Agents Working at Airport Give Whining Leftist the Exact Response He Deserves

Gas thief creeps into learning center, drains van serving students with disabilities

Jeffries declines to break with indicted Democrat after ethics panel’s guilty verdict

Southwest pilot aborts Hollywood Burbank landing because runway ‘wasn’t quite clear’: report

Hegseth Slashes ‘Faith Codes’ in Move to Make Chaplains the Spiritual Backbone of the US Military

Father of slain 20-year-old killed by illegal immigrant issues stark warning after Sheridan Gorman killing

Education Department Abandons Headquarters as Agency Heads for Total Extinction

Trans Tide Is Turning: Idaho Criminalizes Trans Use of Incorrect Bathrooms in Private Businesses

JD Vance says he was ‘obsessed’ with UFOs, believes aliens are actually ‘demons’

Notice Anything With NBC’s Headline About Dem Rep Getting Found Guilty By House Ethics Committee?

Op-Ed: This Is Newsom’s Biggest Problem – He’s Shallow

Climate Change Reparations Melted by New Court Ruling in Deep Blue State

Not Only Is Radical, Senile Maxine Waters Refusing to Retire at 87, She Could Chair Powerful Committee Come Next January

“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.