Massive Minnesota immigration bust uncovers sham marriages, elder 'exploitation,' fake death certificates
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office conducted an unprecedented large-scale investigation in Minneapolis this month, focused on those who were committing marriage and asylum fraud.
Under a mission known as Operation Twin Shield, officers targeted 1,000 cases, knocking on doors at more than 900 sites to conduct interviews and review immigration criteria. Coordinating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the FBI, they found fraud, non-compliance, or public safety and national security concerns in 275 cases.
It’s the first operation after a new rule finalized earlier this month allowed USCIS to expand its law enforcement duties.
In 44 of those cases, the immigrants were referred to ICE or given a notice to appear (NTA) in court. Two were detained on-site. The rest are still being investigated.
In one example, an immigrant engaged in a sham marriage with an elderly U.S. citizen and subjected the citizen to "elder abuse and exploitation," according to USCIS. Another immigrant admitted to fabricating a death certificate from Kenya for $100 to falsely claim the termination of a marriage — the spouse in question was alive, living in Minneapolis and the mother of five of his children.
Other cases included a petitioner who confessed to marriage fraud just hours after swearing under oath that her marriage was legitimate, and another involving an immigrant who had overstayed a visa waiver, was the son of a suspected terrorist, and had previously been denied benefits for fraud.
USCIS Director Joseph Edlow described the operation as part of a broader shift in enforcement posture under President Donald Trump. "USCIS is declaring an all-out war on immigration fraud. We will relentlessly pursue everyone involved in undermining the integrity of our immigration system and laws. With help from ICE and the FBI, USCIS’ Operation Twin Shield was a tremendous success — hundreds of bad actors will be held accountable," Edlow said.Immigration fraud leading to other criminal acts is a pervasive problem. In 2022, Sumalee Intarathong, who also goes by Alice Spencer Warren, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit money laundering — more than one year after being extradited from Belgium to face charges. Warren brought Thai women to Minnesota, other states to work off “debts.”
Intarathong entered the United States in 2009 in San Francisco on a B1/B2 visitor visa with co-defendant Chabaprai Boonluea, whom the organization had trafficked to the United States to engage in commercial sex. She also arrived with Boonluea’s “husband” from a sham marriage and the Thai trafficker known as “Tu.”
In Minnesota and other states the victims were kept in “houses of prostitution,” which included apartments, houses and/or hotels. The victims were required to perform sex work to pay off “bondage debts” of between $40,000 and $60,000, which “far exceeded” expenses incurred by their traffickers. The ring targeted victims from impoverished backgrounds and deployed threats to make them follow through with paying off their debts.
“Until they paid off their bondage debt, the victims were effectively ‘owned’ and controlled by the organization,” according to the plea agreement.
Herrera Gonzalez v. Rosen, 984 F.3d 638 (8th Cir. 2021)
A non-citizen filed petition for review of Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) order affirming immigration judge's (IJ) order of removal and denial of her applications for fraud waiver and cancellation of removal.Key Points
- It was permissible for Department of Homeland Security to add charge of removability for crimes involving moral turpitude in noncitizen's removal proceeding, and to substitute charges by withdrawing initial allegation based on immigration fraud, even though immigration judge (IJ) had already sustained immigration fraud charge against her, and substitution was tactical move to prevent noncitizen from seeking fraud waiver. 8 U.S.C.A. § 1227(a)(1)(H); 8 C.F.R. §§ 1003.30, 1240.10(e).
- Noncitizen has no protected due process liberty interest in discretionary relief from removal. U.S. Const. Amend. 5.
- Department of Homeland Security's withdrawal of immigration fraud charge against noncitizen, and substitution of charge of removability for crimes involving moral turpitude in her removal proceeding did not violate her due process rights, even though withdrawal of fraud charge made her ineligible to seek discretionary cancellation of removal, where noncitizen had notice of charge that she was removable based on crimes involving moral turpitude. U.S. Const. Amend. 5; Immigration and Nationality Act § 237, 8 U.S.C.A. §§ 1227(a)(1), 1227(a)(1)(H), 1227(a)(2)(A)(ii); 8 C.F.R. § 1003.30.