The Minneapolis-St. Paul area was the focus of what officials termed a “first of its kind” operation to be expanded nationwide targeting people fraudulently seeking immigration benefits.
Operation Twin Shield kicked off Sept. 19 and wrapped up Monday, leading to multiple arrests, officials said at a joint press conference by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in coordination with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said Citizen and Immigrations Services Director Joseph B. Edlow.
“I want the American people to know we are declaring war on immigration fraud,” he said. “We will continue to pursue those who seek to abuse our immigration system using every tool at our disposal.”
Operation Twin Shield is the first phase, he said.
“If you seek to commit immigration fraud in this country, you will find yourself meeting with our officers at USCIS,” he said. “You will meet officers within our federal partners at ICE, CBP, FBI, DEA, whoever is working with us. And you will find yourself not only without benefits but you will find yourself prosecuted.”
The agencies Edlow cited refer to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
When asked why the Twin Cities was chosen for the first operation, Edlow said it was based on data.
“When you look at what we are seeing as concerning patterns of fraud, we’re seeing good cooperation here, especially among our field office, working with our federal agents. It just makes sense to start it in a city where we have a sense of what’s going on and where we can try to make an impact,” he said. “So it was really based on reviewing data. Like I said, this is not the only city where this is going to be, this is the first of many.”
Hundreds of cases
The operations efforts focused on site visits to verify information people had submitted for immigration benefits such as marriage and family-based petitions, employment authorizations and certain parole-related requests. The operation looked at 1,000 possible fraud cases and involved more than 900 site visits and in-person interviews. Out of those, there was evidence of 275 suspected fraud cases.
Asked by the Pioneer Press how many arrests had been made, officials said they don’t get into specific numbers but that there had been “multiple” arrests.
A press release said that, as of Tuesday, four people had been apprehended but that the number might increase as investigations are completed.
In addition, in 42 instances, people were issued notices to appear or referred to ICE.
Examples
Edlow gave a few examples of the fraud cases that had been discovered:
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• One person admitted to paying $100 for a fake death certificate to falsely claim a marriage had been terminated.
• Another man who previously had engaged in marriage fraud had overstayed his visa and was the son of a known or suspected terrorist.
• A woman admitted to authorities that she had committed marriage fraud.
• In a fourth case, a man had engaged in marriage fraud with an elderly U.S. woman, abusing and exploiting her.
“Hundreds of bad actors will be held accountable,” said Edlow. “Immigration fraud undermines the integrity of our lawful immigration system, harms those who follow the law and poses risks to national security and public safety.”
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