Posted on 05/15/2008 6:28:31 AM PDT by Heart of Georgia
A federal employee from Henry County, and his wife, will face federal charges in connection with an alleged immigration scheme.
Hasmukh C. Patel, 52, of McDonough, was formally charged Tuesday, with conspiracy to encourage aliens to remain in the United States illegally. Authorities say over a period of more than two years, Patel and his wife, Nitigna, 46, facilitated unlawful acquisitions of visas.
The alleged conspiracy began in March 2005, while Hasmukh Patel worked as a business interface representative for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The 10-page indictment states Hasmukh Patel received money from a foreign national, in exchange for falsely filing a non-immigrant worker visa petition with the U.S. Department of Labor. The couple is further suspected of encouraging four aliens to enter the country illegally.
The Patels also reportedly helped illegal aliens avoid detection by the federal government. Federal agents arrested Hasmukh Patel Wednesday, and he pleaded "not guilty" to the charges against him.
In addition to the conspiracy charge, Hasmukh Patel was charged with one count of perpetrating a fraud on the United States. The indictment also alleges he exceeded his authorized access to the Department of Homeland Security's border protection computer network, on eight separate occasions.
After the details of the indictment were released, U.S. Attorney David E. Nahmias issued a statement about the case, calling the allegations against the Patels "disturbing." Still, he cautioned the public against using the case to cast undue suspicion on others who deal with immigration issues.
"The alleged criminal actions of this federal official and his wife should not reflect upon the thousands of federal employees who are honest and work hard to enforce our immigration laws," Nahmias said.
The case is being investigated by special agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the U.S. Department of Labor.
Wayne H. Salzgaber, with the Department of Homeland Security, said in the statement that Hasmukh Patel disregarded his "responsibility of protecting the integrity of the U.S. Immigration System.
"Any alleged misconduct by someone in his position, that betrays trust or undermines our immigration laws will not be tolerated, but instead will be aggressively investigated," Salzgaber said.
Patrick Crosby, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, said additional information in the federal investigation is not being released at this time, as the case is still in "the infancy stages."
Nitigna Patel is scheduled to be arraigned today.
Ah the foreign born, improving America step by step every day!
“The case is being investigated by special agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the U.S. Department of Labor.”
I just think it’s a bit of good news, even though on the surface they seem sort of small-time; but the article says the investigation is in the early stages, so who knows. It’ll be interesting to know what happens to this couple, how long the whole process takes, if it leads to others, etc.
ping
Small-time or not, it is important to go after all of these criminals.
I agree — we should go after all of them, but I actually believe this is more than it appears.
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