WASHINGTON: Eleven people were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly organizing hundreds of sham marriages for foreigners seeking US residency, mostly Chinese nationals, officials said.
“This is one of the largest marriage fraud prosecutions in United States history,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a press conference in Washington.
“Not only are we protecting our physical borders from unlawful crossings, but we are also preventing immigration fraud schemes that are just another way to skirt the immigration laws of the United States,” Blanche said.
Chinese nationals would pay up to $100,000 for a sham marriage to a US citizen, which would then allow them to apply for a green card giving them the right to stay and work in the US, he said.
The American spouse would receive up to $30,000 to marry the foreign national.
