Key facts
- Eleven individuals were charged in a decade-long scheme to arrange sham marriages for immigration purposes.
- Approximately 1,000 sham marriages were arranged, primarily for Chinese nationals seeking legal residency.
- Foreign nationals paid up to $100,000, while U.S. citizens received up to $30,000 to participate.
- The scheme involved submitting paperwork to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
- The charges follow President Donald Trump's recent executive order targeting 'birth tourism'.
The U.S. Justice Department announced charges against 11 individuals involved in a decade-long scheme that facilitated approximately 1,000 sham marriages to help mostly Chinese nationals obtain legal immigration status. According to court documents unsealed in federal court in Manhattan, foreign nationals paid facilitators up to $100,000 each to be matched with a U.S. citizen, who in turn received as much as $30,000.
Participants in the scheme assisted the newlyweds in submitting the necessary paperwork to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to secure lawful permanent residency for the foreign national. Attorney General Todd Blanche characterized the operation as "one of the largest marriage fraud prosecutions in U.S. history," highlighting the lengths individuals would go to circumvent the immigration system.
This announcement comes shortly after President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at curbing 'birth tourism,' following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that affirmed broad citizenship rights for children born in the United States. Concurrently, the State Department has initiated a review of visa holders' activities to target women entering the U.S. with the primary intention of securing citizenship for their children.