Free Republic

Fugitive La Shish restaurant chain owner Talal Chahine has been indicted on citizenship fraud. The Detroit Free Press and Detroit News report that Wednesday's federal grand jury indictment alleges Chahine gave references and lied to federal officials about the phony marriages of his future wife, Elfat El Aouar, her sister, Nada Nadim Prouty, and their roommate, Samar Khalil Spinelli. Each of the Lebanese-born women have pleaded guilty to faking the marriages to gain U.S. citizenship.

America's homeland-security amnesia never ceases to amaze. In the aftermath of the botched Times Square terror attack, Pakistani-born bombing suspect Faisal Shahzad's US citizenship status caused a bit of shock and awe. The Atlantic magazine writer Jeffrey Goldberg's response was typical: "I am struck by the fact that he is a naturalized American citizen, not a recent or temporary visitor." Well, wake up and smell the deadly deception. Shahzad's path to American citizenship -- he reportedly married an American woman, Huma Mian, in 2008 after spending a decade in the country on foreign student and employment visas -- is a...

An owner of the local Thai Ginger restaurant chain was arrested Tuesday morning and is due to appear in federal court in Seattle on various immigration-related charges for allegedly arranging “sham marriages.” In an indictment unsealed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle, Varee Bradford, who operates the Thai Ginger restaurants, and Porramin Tangchaiwanna, known as “Golf,” were charged with conspiracy to commit immigration fraud. Bradford was charged with several additional counts of fraud relating to immigration documents. According to the indictment, the two offered to pay employees of Thai Ginger $15,000 to $25,000 to enter into sham marriages with...