An immigration scheme involving sham marriages in the city of Houston has been uncovered by prosecutors.
The U.S. Attorney says there have been dozens of arrests in a scheme that involved the creation of sham marriages to obtain a legal immigration status.
The organizers would charge $50,000 to arrange a fake marriage, even providing a fake wedding photo album to make it look like a real marriage. Prosecutors say 100 people have been charged and 50 are in custody. Breitbart's Bob Price says this is exactly what law enforcement needs to do.
"It's one of the many loopholes in our broken immigration system that needs to be ratcheted down," Price explained. "This is exactly how you do that. You prosecute the people who are violating the law."
But Price says there are other loopholes people take advantage of.
"Congress has got a lot of work to do. It's good to see other issues like this being highlighted as well," Price stated.
The charges accuse Ashley Yen Nguyen AKA Duyen, 53, of heading the organization out of southwest Houston but had ties across Texas and Vietnam.
Also indicted is attorney Trang Le Nguyen aka Nguyen Le Thien Trang, 45, of Pearland, for obstructing and impeding the due administration of justice and tampering with a witness, victim or informant.
“A sham marriage is a marriage that is entered into for the primary purpose of circumventing immigration laws. The indictment alleges the marriages involved in this conspiracy were shams because the spouses did not live together and did not intend to do so, contrary to documents and statements they submitted to USCIS,” states the DOJ. “The spouses only met briefly, usually immediately before they obtained their marriage license, or not at all, according to the charges. The spouses allegedly entered into the marriage pursuant to a financial arrangement for the primary purpose of circumventing U.S. immigration laws.”