 Circuit Court Clerk David Bell tipped off police about the sham marriages, triggering a nearly four-year investigation. |
Posted on 11/14/2006 4:40:25 AM PST by dennisw
They didn't hug. They didn't kiss. They didn't even sit together.
Many couples going to the Arlington County Courthouse seemed more like strangers than people applying for marriage licenses. A man named Sam often escorted them to the sixth-floor clerk's office. Sometimes, there would be a furtive exchange of money in the elevator.
Before long, some of the same people would be back, filing for divorce, their court papers littered with mistakes -- always the same mistakes.
"They misspelled 'circuit,' " said David A. Bell, the longtime Circuit Court clerk. "It was obvious something was going on."
Bell tipped off police, triggering a nearly four-year investigation that recently broke up one of the Washington region's biggest and most brazen immigration scams: an estimated 1,000 fake marriages. The scheme was centered in the area's little-noticed but rapidly growing community of immigrants from Ghana.
For immigrants, marrying a U.S. citizen is a quick ticket to citizenship. Along the East Coast and all the way to West Africa, at car dealerships, malls, parties and even a Home Depot, the word had spread: If you are in the United States illegally, go to Arlington. It's easy to get married in Virginia, because marriage laws are relatively lax. Arlington, with its proximity to the Metro system and the District, is especially convenient.
In recent weeks, 19 of 22 people charged so far in the undercover investigation have pleaded guilty in federal court in Alexandria, including bank tellers, car salesmen and health-care workers. Court testimony and interviews document how Ghanaian immigrants married U.S. citizens they had met same day, then were coached on how to fool immigration inspectors, usually months later, into believing that the marriage was real. All they wanted, they said, was to stay in the United States.
Now, they will have to leave.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
| Circuit Court Clerk David Bell tipped off police about the sham marriages, triggering a nearly four-year investigation. |
Hopefully after a lengthy prison stretch for attempted immigration fraud.
L
Read the whole article. Our gubbermint just doesn't care about this invasion- http://www.accra-mail.com/mailnews.asp?id=18945
Now these invaders will hire lawyers and delay their deportation for years if not forever
U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee offered a few words of comfort to Chepkwony at her recent plea hearing. But his sympathy only went so far.
"America is composed of -- is a nation of immigrants," he said. "Everyone here came from somewhere else. However . . . there are rules on how one can immigrate to live here permanently.
"You did not follow the rules."
They should be deported. But shouldn't all illegal immigrants?
Why should the taxpayers foot their room and board bill, even if it's just a cot and a bologna sandwich, for that lengthy period? Just hold 'em long enough for a boatload, then send 'em home. Or maybe contract with Aeroflot to fly them home. :)
As obvious as this was, why did it take 4 years. In four years we can design, build and field a military training system, *and* upgrade it once.
Aw come on. It's not just the problem of finding out what's going on. It's also the problem of getting enough evidence to convince a jury in Northern Virginia. Basically you'd need a video of each perp flipping the bird at the camera while saying, "Being of sound mind and body, I have freely elected to stomp all over US immigration laws for fraudulent purposes including but limited to making some loot or getting permanent resident status."
Then you'd have to prepare an argument that getting married to someone you didn't know and had no intention of living with was not a legitimate "life-style choice". I mean if we're going to endorse perversion, how can we "discriminate" against people getting married for any reason whatsoever?
Seriously, there's a big gap between knowing what's up and getting enough to ensure a verdict.
"America is composed of -- is a nation of immigrants," he said. "Everyone here came from somewhere else. However . . . there are rules on how one can immigrate to live here permanently.
"You did not follow the rules."
...
I think I like this judge already.
SO WHEN DO THEY GET DEPORTED!!
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