FROM: http://www.ice.gov/doclib/news/library/speeches/012611kibble.pdf
Only an excerpt from above.
ICE’s Efforts to Address Fraud in the Visa and Labor Certification Process
ICE’s efforts also include identifying, investigating, and penalizing employers who engage in visa or labor certification fraud. Perpetrators of document and benefit fraud usually receive documents, whether counterfeit or legitimately issued through fraud, that could be used to open bank accounts, enter public buildings and obtain employment. Unchecked, one benefit fraud facilitator can be responsible for hundreds of aliens obtaining benefits and jobs to which they are not legally entitled, which demonstrates how ICE’s investigations in this area have made an impact. Since the start of FY 2009, ICE has initiated 623 cases involving the H and L nonimmigrant employment-based visa categories, and obtained 91 criminal arrests, 152 administrative arrests, 103 convictions and a total of $13,845,276 seized.
In one recent case conducted by the ICE-led Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force in Orlando, Fla., ICE targeted several defendants who were facilitating H-2B visa fraud on a large scale. The defendants in the investigation used both shell and actual companies to file for unskilled temporary workers under the H-2B visa category. The company had approximately 160 clients and charged as much as $12,000 to file the fraudulent visa petitions. They then committed fraud by placing the workers in jobs other than where they claimed that the workers would be employed. By using shell companies, the facilitators were able to nullify the labor certification process, ensuring that legitimate determinations regarding qualified U.S. workers or the effect of wages and job conditions were not made. After guilty pleas, three principal defendants were sentenced in late 2010 to imprisonment ranging from 18 months to 24 months. Additionally, the court entered a $55,000,000 monetary judgment, which represents the amount of proceeds obtained as a result of the conspiracy.
Only an excerpt from above.
ICE’s Efforts to Address Fraud in the Visa and Labor Certification Process
ICE’s efforts also include identifying, investigating, and penalizing employers who engage in visa or labor certification fraud. Perpetrators of document and benefit fraud usually receive documents, whether counterfeit or legitimately issued through fraud, that could be used to open bank accounts, enter public buildings and obtain employment. Unchecked, one benefit fraud facilitator can be responsible for hundreds of aliens obtaining benefits and jobs to which they are not legally entitled, which demonstrates how ICE’s investigations in this area have made an impact. Since the start of FY 2009, ICE has initiated 623 cases involving the H and L nonimmigrant employment-based visa categories, and obtained 91 criminal arrests, 152 administrative arrests, 103 convictions and a total of $13,845,276 seized.
In one recent case conducted by the ICE-led Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force in Orlando, Fla., ICE targeted several defendants who were facilitating H-2B visa fraud on a large scale. The defendants in the investigation used both shell and actual companies to file for unskilled temporary workers under the H-2B visa category. The company had approximately 160 clients and charged as much as $12,000 to file the fraudulent visa petitions. They then committed fraud by placing the workers in jobs other than where they claimed that the workers would be employed. By using shell companies, the facilitators were able to nullify the labor certification process, ensuring that legitimate determinations regarding qualified U.S. workers or the effect of wages and job conditions were not made. After guilty pleas, three principal defendants were sentenced in late 2010 to imprisonment ranging from 18 months to 24 months. Additionally, the court entered a $55,000,000 monetary judgment, which represents the amount of proceeds obtained as a result of the conspiracy.