Since I used to live in Virginia, this story caught my eye when I read it in the Washington Times. It seems that on Thursday, federal authorities arrested over 19 residents in Virginia for a scam that is connected to nearly a 1,000 fraud marriages between illegal aliens and U.S. citizens in order to avoid the immigration laws. As you may or may not know, an illegal immigrant may be granted citizenship status if they are married to a U.S. citizen and the marriage is validated by immigration officials as being based on a real relationship and not one entered into for profit.
Operation Arlington Marriage Fraud
The investigation took more than 3 years and began when a clerk in the Arlington Courthouse noticed a pattern of couples appearing to apply for a marriage license that didn’t even seem to know each other. They usually came in groups and the arranger appeared several times. The clerk reported this ‘suspicious’ pattern to their supervisor and then the authorities were contacted.
Potential spouses were recruited from Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. The marriage licenses were often obtained in Virginia because Virginia has no waiting period on marriage licenses. The immigrants paid anywhere between $2,500 and $6,000 to find a spouse and to be coached through the immigration process.
Undercover agents spent a great deal of time observing and learning as much about the operation as they could in order to snare all involved. They discussed the fact that immigrants were taught how to answer questions such as which side of the bed they slept on, how they met and more on their newly formed ‘joint’ life together.
The sham marriages were maintained for years in some cases, in order for the immigrants to obtain their resident status and citizenship. Many of those involved in the arranged marriage fraud were from the African country of Ghana. Cases of document fraud such as these arranged marriages doubled between 2004 and 2005. At this time, though the fraudulent marriages were designed to help immigrants obtain citizenship status they do not believe that this case is linked to terrorism.
Currently, those arrested are being held on charges of conspiracy to commit immigration fraud, marriage fraud, immigration fraud and conspiracy to commit marriage fraud. I can understand the desire to become a citizen here in the United States, for many, it represents a freedom they have never been able to have in their own countries as well as an opportunity for a better life. Unfortunately, fraud is fraud and right now – it’s anyone’s guess what will happen to those participants in the fraudulent marriages and whether the immigrants will be deported and the U.S. Citizens charged as well.
Did you hear about this story in the last couple of days?
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