Non-Attorney Immigration Consulting Business Owners Arrested on April 6, 2011
CERRITOS – Immigration agents arrested three members of a Yorba Linda family on suspicion of visa fraud at their immigration consulting business in Cerritos on Wednesday morning, officials said.
The three are suspected of filing fraudulent marriage and work visa petitions on behalf of foreigners who paid fees as high as $60,000, federal officials reported Wednesday. All three face up to five years in federal prison.
The three are suspected of filing fraudulent marriage and work visa petitions on behalf of foreigners who paid fees as high as $60,000, federal officials reported Wednesday. All three face up to five years in federal prison.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested Ajit Kumar Bhargava, his wife, Nisha Bhargava, and their daughter, Runjhun Bhargava, after the three were named as part of a criminal complaint filed about a week ago in the U.S. District Court, the Department of Justicestated in a release.
The three operate an immigration consulting business called MPEagle Consultants in Cerritos, which caters primarily to Indian nationals. Immigration agents with ICE Homeland Security Investigations executed a search warrant at the business early Wednesday.
The three members of the Bhargava family are accused of recruiting unemployed and low-income U.S. citizens with promises of $2,000 payments in exchange for marrying MPEagle's foreign clients, according to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement statement.
Federal officials allege that the three made the couples pose together for photos and open joint bank accounts to make the fake marriages appear real. The three would then file a fraudulent immigrant visa petition with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, officials said.
Ajit Bhargava quoted different fees to his clients depending on the type of visa they wanted, such as $15,000 for a work visa or up to $60,000 for a visa based upon marriage to a U.S. citizen, immigration officials reported.
"America's immigration system is not for sale and those who think they can game the system for personal gain will find there's a high price to pay," stated Claude Arnold, special agent in charge for ICE HSI in Los Angeles. "Visa fraud is a serious crime. Not only does it undermine the integrity of our legal immigration process and penalize those who abide by the law, it also poses a significant security vulnerability."
The investigation into the family began in September 2009 after officers with the Fraud Detection and National Security Division of USCIS in Santa Ana noticed suspicious similarities with 21 visa petitions traced back to MPEagle, officials reported. In some cases, the applicants used the same marriage certificates, divorce certificates, witnesses or even U.S. citizen spouses.
MPEagle's website states that it offers immigration services in several locations outside of Cerritos, such as Georgia, New Jersey and India.
Source: The Orange County Register
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