Alright!
Now THIS is what I call immigration reform!
Bust those crooked cops in Louisiana, if that's not an oxymoron~
apnews.com
Federal authorities have charged three current or former Louisiana police chiefs with taking bribes in exchange for filing false police reports that would allow noncitizens to seek a visa that lets certain crime victims stay in the U.S.
The false police reports would indicate that the immigrant was a victim of a crime that would qualify them to apply for a so-called U-visa, U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook said Wednesday at a news conference in Lafayette. He said the police officials were paid $5,000 for each name they provided falsified reports for, and that there were hundreds of names.
There had been “an unusual concentration of armed robberies of people who were not from Louisiana,” Van Hook said, noting that two other people were also charged in the alleged scheme.
“In fact, the armed robberies never took place,” he said.
Earlier this month, a federal grand jury in Shreveport returned a 62 count indictment charging the five defendants with crimes including conspiracy to commit visa fraud, visa fraud, bribery, mail fraud and money laundering, Van Hook said.
Getting a U-visa can give some crime victims and their families a pathway to U.S. citizenship. About 10,000 people got them in the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, 2022, which was the most recent period for which the Homeland Security Department has published data.
These special visas, which were created by Congress in 2000, are specifically for victims of certain crimes “who have suffered mental or physical abuse” and are “helpful to law enforcement or government officials in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity,” based on a description of the program published by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
“These visas are designed to help law enforcement and prosecutors prosecute crimes where you need the victim or the witness there, ” Van Hook said. “U-visas serve a valuable purpose, and this is a case where they were abused.”
When asked about the extent of the fraud, Van Hook said there “hundreds of names” —- specifically for visas that were approved.
In 2021, the USCIS warned that the U-visa program was susceptible to fraud after an audit from the Office of Inspector General found that administrators hadn’t addressed deficiencies in their process.
The audit found that USCIS approved a handful of suspicious law enforcement signatures that were not cross-referenced with a database of authorized signatures, according to the OIG report. They were also not closely tracking fraud case outcomes, the total number of U-visas granted per year, and were not effectively managing the backlog, which led to crime victims waiting for nearly 10 years before receiving a U-visa.
Now THIS is what I call immigration reform!
Bust those crooked cops in Louisiana, if that's not an oxymoron~
Feds charge 3 current or former Louisiana police chiefs in an alleged visa fraud scheme
Federal authorities have charged three current or former Louisiana police chiefs with taking bribes in exchange for filing false police reports that would allow noncitizens to seek a visa that lets certain crime victims stay in the U.S.
apnews.com
Federal authorities have charged three current or former Louisiana police chiefs with taking bribes in exchange for filing false police reports that would allow noncitizens to seek a visa that lets certain crime victims stay in the U.S.
The false police reports would indicate that the immigrant was a victim of a crime that would qualify them to apply for a so-called U-visa, U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook said Wednesday at a news conference in Lafayette. He said the police officials were paid $5,000 for each name they provided falsified reports for, and that there were hundreds of names.
There had been “an unusual concentration of armed robberies of people who were not from Louisiana,” Van Hook said, noting that two other people were also charged in the alleged scheme.
“In fact, the armed robberies never took place,” he said.
Earlier this month, a federal grand jury in Shreveport returned a 62 count indictment charging the five defendants with crimes including conspiracy to commit visa fraud, visa fraud, bribery, mail fraud and money laundering, Van Hook said.
Getting a U-visa can give some crime victims and their families a pathway to U.S. citizenship. About 10,000 people got them in the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, 2022, which was the most recent period for which the Homeland Security Department has published data.
These special visas, which were created by Congress in 2000, are specifically for victims of certain crimes “who have suffered mental or physical abuse” and are “helpful to law enforcement or government officials in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity,” based on a description of the program published by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
“These visas are designed to help law enforcement and prosecutors prosecute crimes where you need the victim or the witness there, ” Van Hook said. “U-visas serve a valuable purpose, and this is a case where they were abused.”
When asked about the extent of the fraud, Van Hook said there “hundreds of names” —- specifically for visas that were approved.
In 2021, the USCIS warned that the U-visa program was susceptible to fraud after an audit from the Office of Inspector General found that administrators hadn’t addressed deficiencies in their process.
The audit found that USCIS approved a handful of suspicious law enforcement signatures that were not cross-referenced with a database of authorized signatures, according to the OIG report. They were also not closely tracking fraud case outcomes, the total number of U-visas granted per year, and were not effectively managing the backlog, which led to crime victims waiting for nearly 10 years before receiving a U-visa.
