1 of 4 | Attorney General Todd Blanche and others are shown during a press conference Wednesday at the Department of Justice Headquarters in Washington, D.C. The Justice Department announced criminal charges against 11 people they allege participated in a fraud scheme that involved more than 1,000 fraudulent marriages between Chinese nationals and U.S. citizens. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
Aug. 12 (UPI) -- The U.S. Justice Department announced Wednesday that 11 people have been charged with in connection in a marriage fraud scheme that allegedly lasted more than a decade.
The department said in a release that those charged conspired to orchestrate more than 1,000 fraudulent marriages. These marriages allegedly were intended to obtain immigration status for foreign nationals, mostly citizens of China.
"The individuals who were arrested today allegedly orchestrated elaborate schemes to illegally obtain citizenship for foreign nationals through sham marriages," U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said. "Schemes like this are a deliberate affront to the United States and our laws and will not be tolerated under the Trump administration."
The indictment was filed in the Southern District of New York. Some people paid up to $100,000 for a sham marriage to help them obtain a green card, with the U.S. citizens involved receiving as much as $30,000 from that fee, the Justice Department said.
