Feds to target illegals' fake IDs

WASHINGTON — Acknowledging widespread security lapses within the nation's immigration system, the Bush administration announced Wednesday it is opening anti-fraud task forces in 10 cities, including Atlanta, to crack down on fake driver's licenses, passports and other methods used to obtain immigration benefits.

"Millions have used fraudulent documents" to obtain work permits or to provide cover for criminal or terrorist activities, said Julie Myers, assistant Homeland Security secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who cited "an epidemic" of bogus identification documents generated by highly sophisticated crime networks.

The enforcement initiative, which combines Homeland Security immigration agencies, the U.S. Department of Justice and other federal and local agencies, is to operate in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Newark, N.J., Philadelphia and St. Paul, Minn.

Details about the initiative were sketchy. But led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the task forces build on existing partnerships to bring investigators together from a variety of agencies with expertise in different aspects of document and benefit fraud, a news release announcing task forces said.

Some of the participants in the task forces include the Department of Justice, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General, State Department Office of Inspector General, State Department Bureau of Diplomatic Security, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Secret Service, and numerous state and local law enforcement agencies.

The announcement came the day before a former Homeland Security official was scheduled to tell Congress that the department is now awarding immigrant benefits, including citizenship, without proper background checks and has failed to investigate nearly 600 cases of alleged bribery, money laundering and other criminal activities by its own employees.

Just last week in Georgia, supporters and critics of the newly approved Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act agreed the state law could be undermined by bogus documents.

A key provision of the act, which passed both houses of the state Legislature last week by big margins, is the section dealing with private employers verifying that their workers are legally in the country. Some say the proliferation of fake documents makes that section of the law, and possibly others, difficult if not impossible to enforce.

Michael J. Maxwell, who quit in February as director of the U.S. Office of Security and Investigations for immigration services, is scheduled to testify today to the House Subcommittee on International Terrorism.

"The integrity of the United States immigration system has been corrupted, and the system is incapable of ensuring the security of our homeland," Maxwell said in a statement prepared for the hearing.

That statement is accompanied by more than 70 pages of documentation, internal e-mails and memos he said show an agency awash in security problems and lacking the resources "to open investigations into even the relatively small number of national security cases."

Maxwell's written testimony describes increasing vulnerabilities in the Citizenship and Immigration Services division, which oversees the distribution of work visas, permanent "green card" residency permits and citizenship.

The former official quit in a dispute with his bosses after he briefed members of Congress about security problems.

Among the complaints prepared for his testimony, Maxwell says that employees assigned to perform checks on would-be citizens or permanent residents were increasingly denied access to FBI crime and terrorism databases that record allegations of criminal behavior or security problems.

Maxwell's documentation also indicates that regional immigration offices, including those in Atlanta and Philadelphia, have a backlog of cases of applicants who have been denied residency because of ineligibility or criminal prosecutions. Although these applicants should have been notified and put into removal procedures, their cases are "in limbo" and their official "notices to appear" in immigration court have not gone out, Maxwell says.

Asked about the backlogs, the director of Citizenship and Immigration Services, Emilio Gonzalez, said the caseload is so large that his agency has to take care so they "don't clog up the court system."

The immigration services director brushed off Maxwell's criticism of security at the agency. "He has his opinions, and I have mine," said Gonzalez, who joined in the announcement of the task forces.

Paul L. Jones, director of homeland security and justice investigations for the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan arm of Congress, said the new anti-fraud effort is a response to a recent GAO report that found extensive fraud in the granting of immigrant benefits.

The government's anti-fraud task forces do not go far enough, Jones said, adding that the system does not penalize the people who use fake IDs and other illegal schemes to obtain immigration permits and visas. Under current practices, a person can lie on an immigration benefit application, be turned down, and later try again and again, Jones said.

The GAO official said that his agency reviewed Maxwell's allegations and found them to be serious. "Our folks say there's enough smoke there," Jones said, adding that the GAO has referred his complaints to the FBI.

Website: "Immigration Services Dept of Homeland Security"

(snip)"Homeland Security does nothing about high quality fake IDs sold in New York City to illegals and potential terrorists

DOJgov.net Newswire December 8 2005

Less than four months after www.dojgov.net broke the story that immigration documents were still being openly sold by Homeland Security Immigration personnel, 26 Federal Plaza NYC, The New York Sun published an expose on the open selling of high quality documents on the streets of New York City.

The ease at which high quality counterfeit Green Cards, Social Security Cards and other documents could be purchased was made frighteningly clear, although the federal government constantly reiterates its desire to tackle document fraud.

Roosevelt Avenue in Queens has become an international market, with fake green cards costing $100.00 in an open air bazaar. According to The Sun, this business is booming.

Local dealers said most of their clients were immigrants from Latin America, but also include illegals from all over the world.

The Department of Homeland Security said it is aware of the problem and claims to be working with local enforcement agencies to prevent it. The president of the National Border Patrol Council, representing more than 10,000 border patrol agents, T.J. Bonner, said. "As long as there's a demand for these documents and the documents continue to be accepted, people will be out there supplying."

Despite increasing immigration enforcement on the border, the inflows of illegal immigrants last year for the first time outnumbered legal immigrants to America, according to research by the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington. The organization estimates the total of illegal immigrants at 11 million nationwide and 525,000 in New York City.

Mr. Bonner of the border patrol group said he was "not very impressed" with the federal and local response. "They have had such a pathetic showing in interior enforcement that it's been a joke for several years," he said. "Politicians like to pretend we can have open borders for laborers but somehow seal the borders off against criminals and terrorists. It's a laughable notion, but they actually try and sell that notion."

Border Patrol catches, then releases, illegals

USA TODAY February 2, 2005

FLORENCE, Ariz. — Thousands of illegal immigrants, mostly from Central and South America, are being released into the USA almost immediately after they are picked up by the Border Patrol as part of a policy that U.S. officials acknowledge represents a significant gap in homeland security.

The treatment of illegal immigrants from Mexico has not changed. U.S. Border Patrol agents continue to catch and deport waves of Mexican illegals, who last year accounted for most of the 905,000 people caught sneaking into the USA along the 2,000-mile Southwestern border.

But deporting illegals from countries other than Mexico — known here as "OTMs" — is far more complicated. Several Central and South American governments have been reluctant to accept groups of people for repatriation.

The result: With no place to put thousands of captured illegals from Central and South America, the Border Patrol has begun releasing them after giving them written orders to appear at deportation hearings in nearby U.S. cities. Immigration officials acknowledge the exercise is futile: About 86% of those issued such notices never show up for the court hearings.

In a procedure that has been ridiculed by local law enforcement officials and even some Border Patrol agents, the agents are told to make sure that illegal immigrants provide U.S. addresses and contact telephone numbers before they are released. The information is supposed to be included on copies of the immigration court notices.

But local law enforcement officials who have reviewed dozens of the notices say that many illegals provide false addresses or none at all. That leaves U.S. authorities with few clues about where to look for the illegals if they fail to appear in court.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says that in 2003, as many as 6,000 illegals entered the USA under the government's "catch and release" policy. Officials in U.S. border towns and other critics say the policy threatens local residents' safety and undermines security along the Southwestern border at a time when counterterrorism officials believe al-Qaeda operatives could be focusing on Mexico as an entry point to the USA.

"The Border Patrol is admitting that they don't have a clue about who these people really are or what kind of threat they might pose," says D'Wayne Jernigan, the sheriff in Val Verde County, Texas. "During these times when everybody's concerned about who's coming into this country, I think you have to question the wisdom of this policy."

The "catch and release" policy has existed for several years but has become particularly evident since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which led U.S. officials to tighten border security.

Immigration inspectors continue letting people in using stolen foreign passports

Extract from Washington Post report 2 Feb 2005

DHS immigration inspectors had continued to let dozens of people using stolen foreign passports enter the United States -- even after other governments had notified the agency of the passport numbers. Using stolen passports is a well-known tactic of al Qaeda operatives.

Even when immigration officials realized someone had entered the United States on a stolen passport, they did not routinely notify sister agencies that track illegal immigrants, the report said.

"Nobody's kicking anybody to do things" at Homeland Security, said Seth Stodder, former policy and planning director at the department's Customs and Border Protection agency. "There's a reluctance to make decisions that will be unpopular with the loser, so things just drift."

U.S. Decides to track down 400,000 fugitive Immigrants after allowing them to Roam the U.S.

PHOENIX, Nov. 16 2004 (UPI) -- Immigration officials across the United States are aggressively tracking down illegal immigrants who have disobeyed orders to leave the country.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has deployed 80 agents assigned to "fugitive operations teams" in 16 cities to find 400,000 fugitive immigrants in the United States, 80,000 of whom were ordered to leave the country after criminal convictions, the Arizona Republic reported.

The $50 million program is part of a Bush administration initiative launched in 2003 and will be expanded by another 30 teams in all 23 field offices, including two teams each in Los Angeles and New York.

(Editor's Note: It seems Immigration and Customs Enforcement [formerly the dysfunctional Immigration and Naturalization Service, subsequently renamed and hidden in Homeland Security] has learned nothing since 911.

Why should we expect criminals to voluntarily leave the United States? Why aren't they physically deported on the spot? We don't need more agents in the federal bureaucracy. We just need some common sense.)" (snip)

"Isn't presenting forged documents some kind of felony? Anyone caught with them should be prosecuted, incarcerated, and then deported with orders never to return."

(snip)"Website: Department of Homeland Security

Immigration Services,

Customs & Immigration Enforcement.

It's the same old USDOJ INS with the same indolent and corrupt habits

Immigration Services of Homeland Security illegally selling Passport Stamps and setting potential terrorists loose on America

DOJgov.net newswire exclusive July 9 2005

In spite of the transfer of Immigration Services from the US Department of Justice to the Homeland Security Agency, illegal practices placing America at risk have continued.

DOJgov.net has first hand witness information that 26 Federal Plaza, NYC is continuing their practice of illegally selling passport stamps on site. These stamps indicate that an immigrant has been approved for legal permanent residency, or a green card. It gives them open access to America.

This practice is being carried out in the open, with employees working together and collecting pay-offs on-site. Corrupt or incompetent Mid level management is doing nothing to stop this. Upper Management is turning their backs on this terrorist friendly corruption.

Corruption such as this is endemic in Immigration Services. It works hand in hand with the selling of Green Cards and processing of visas with incomplete background checks.

Whistleblower employees like Caryl B. Leventhal (see www.Justice-Denied.net) have been attempting to stop practices that invite terrorists into America since late 1995. They have been met with termination, threat of death and threat of arrest and prosecution (by the US Attorney's Office) if they didn't keep quiet.

Workers say INS Newark office was bribery haven

DOJgov.net - January 10, 2004

It was December 20th 2003, some five days before Christmas Day. And during this time of brotherly love, one cornered witness after another testified that bribes were standard operating procedure at the Newark, New Jersey INS office.

As in the past, the US Attorney’s Office was prosecuting INS employee felons instead of silencing dedicated whistleblowers, because things were becoming so flagrant.

When immigrants applied for work permits or green cards, one former officer testified, he would often take the money orders, cash them for himself and stash the applications in a locker.

Another former INS supervisor testified she accepted $40,000 to $70,000 in bribes to create fraudulent work permits for more than 50 illegal immigrants. And when that same supervisor passed a co-worker her share of a $2,200 bribe to approve green cards for two ineligible illegal immigrants from India, the woman complained the sum was too small, the woman testified. Other workers in the Newark district, she said, were getting bigger bribes.

During an ongoing but little publicized federal corruption trial in Newark, former INS workers have described an office in which employees often approved immigrants for legal residency not because the foreigners were eligible under the law, but because they had paid thousands of dollars in bribes to a middleman who paid off federal US Department of Justice employees

The scenario for the US Department of Justice’s Immigration and Naturalization Service (now hidden in The Department of Homeland Security and divided into the “Citizenship and Immigration Services Bureau” as well as “Border Control”) has continued the endemic practice of allowing potential terrorists and criminals to buy their way into America. Its name may have changed after the September 11th terrorist murder of some 3,000 Americans, but since nobody was fired for enabling terrorism, there was no fear for continued corruption and wrongdoing.

Jerome Audige, 73, of West Orange is on trial for bribing two former INS officials to obtain immigration documents for a pair of clients who paid him up to $10,000.

Closing arguments before U.S. Judge William Martini were scheduled for the morning of December 20th 2003, with the jury expected to begin deliberations that afternoon.

The three former INS workers, two of whom are cooperating with authorities under threat of longer sentences, pleaded guilty and testified at Audige's trial.

Audige was president of the Irvington-based New Jersey Haitian American Cultural Organization. His arrest, along with the three INS employees and a second middleman, stem from an investigation launched in 2001 by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General targeting suspected corruption within the Newark office, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Hammer.

This investigation began little more than one year after Deputy US Attorney Eric B. Fisher and a “cheering gallery” of some 15 US Attorneys silenced whistleblower Caryl B. Leventhal. She and her husband Michael Leventhal were threatened with arrest and prosecution if they didn't censor their website www.Justice-Denied.net to make it more amenable to US Department of Justice corruption and apathy.

At INS 26 Federal Plaza, NYC, Ms. Leventhal was the one who fought to stop this very same type of behavior. And the actions in INS Newark occurred less than two years after the USDOJ’s Immigration and Naturalization Service transferred Brenda J. Grant (Caryl Leventhal’s main antagonist) from 26 Federal Plaza to Newark, after being their for some 25 years.

Andrea Quarantillo, former director of the INS Newark district and now head of the Citizenship and Immigration Services, said the scandal was limited to three employees who have pleaded guilty and the agency had taken measures to prevent further incidents. This “case closed” excuse was used in 1998 when it was said that some 10 INS employees in 26 Federal Plaza were considered the only ones involved. A few obvious heads roll to protect others, most particularly, a corrupt and apathetic middle management, protected by the civil service system and ravenously seeking to retain power.

"We hire people and we're very concerned we give training and we put in checks and quality checks, and when it comes to giving out benefits, we expect people to live up to their oath of office," said Quarantillo. "And when they do not, as in this case, we go back ... to look at the processes, and we fix any law and loopholes that allow these things to happen."

In testimony earlier this week, Special Agent Eric Blackman of the Office of Inspector General said investigators had hoped Audige would cooperate by providing information on other INS workers. Over four days of testimony, a pair of government witnesses testified that Audige recruited INS workers to approve immigration documents for clients who were ineligible under U.S. immigration law.

Brenda Parmely, a former INS supervisor applications clerk described by Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Resnick as "no stranger to corruption," said she accepted several thousand dollars from Audige to process immigration documents for his nephew and four other illegal immigrants from India and Haiti.

Parmely, 40, of Elizabeth, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to accepting bribes.

Testifying for the prosecution, Parmely said that by the time she met Audige at the Chateau of Spain restaurant in Newark during the summer of 2000, she was already processing fraudulent claims for another woman, Maria Bravim of Harrison. Parmely testified that Bravim paid her $40,000 to $70,000 to process fraudulent work permits for as many as 50 illegal immigrants.

Bravim, a Brazilian national, pleaded guilty in August 2001 and is wanted by authorities after failing to appear at sentencing.

Several times a week, Parmely testified, she would wait until other employees had gone to lunch, then produce laminated Employment Authorization Cards for customers whose names she received from Bravim or Audige. The cards allow holders to live and work legally in the United States and are a crucial step toward permanent residency and citizenship.

After she began dating Audige, Parmely testified, she recruited another INS employee, Tonya Allen, to handle Audige's requests for a more lucrative product: passport stamps indicating an immigrant has been approved for legal permanent residency, or a green card.

But when she gave Allen $2,200 to stamp the first two passports, Parmely testified, Allen became angry because she thought the payoff was too small.

"She was angry because she had heard other persons doing things she was doing and she thought it wasn't enough," Parmely testified.

The government's case also included testimony by former INS information officer Michael Bridgeforth of Yonkers, N.Y., who agreed to cooperate with investigators after he was arrested for bilking $8,000 to $9,000 in application fees paid by immigrants seeking to legalize their status.

In a Nov. 18, 2001, meeting with Audige, Bridgeforth wore a recording device and secretly taped a conversation in which Audige handed him $2,000 and promised "you can make a lot of money" in exchange for helping him obtain fraudulent documents for his clients.

"There are a lot of people involved in schemes like this," Bridgeforth recounted Audige telling him. "He said he had other people that are working for him in the INS, as well."

Bridgeforth pleaded guilty to theft of government funds and awaits sentencing.

Yesterday, Allen, a former INS officer, testified she approved five to eight fraudulent green cards after receiving money from Parmely, a crime to which she pleaded guilty and served five months in federal prison. Allen, of Orange, repeatedly denied any involvement in Audige's alleged ring.

Under Resnick's repeated questioning, Allen, who earned a salary of $47,716 a year and declared bankruptcy in January 2000, told of purchasing two Lexus automobiles, a Mercedes and a $250,000 home later that year.

Asked repeatedly about bank records showing she deposited in her personal checking account more than $34,000 in 18 cash payments between April and November 2000, Allen stated she was not sure who had given her the money.

"Not sure, maybe my family," Allen responded at least eight times.

One of Audige's clients, Ravinder Singh of India, testified he overstayed a tourist visa, then paid Audige $10,000 to obtain a green card.

Singh said he knew he was ineligible for legal residency because his wife, a lesbian U.S. citizen whom he paid $2,000 to marry him and sponsor him for a green card, left him a week before their scheduled interview with INS officials.

Despite attending the interview by himself and having none of the required paperwork, Singh said he received his passport stamp and later, a green card, in the mail.

When the INS was disbanded last March, its duties were folded into the new Department of Homeland Security. Workers who handled benefits like green cards were transferred to the DHS' Citizenship and Immigration Services bureau. INS’s Border Patrol has been combined with Customs. Most of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms was given to the US Department of Justice to repay them for their loss in numbers. In a Bureaucracy, numbers of employees signifies power.

And the game of musical chairs continues."(snip)

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