Posted on 02/24/2014 8:07:30 AM PST by Altura Ct.
A Chinese woman walked into a law office in New York’s Chinatown and asked to see her lawyer. She had applied for asylum, claiming that she had been forced to get an abortion in China to comply with the country’s family-planning laws, and she was anxious about her coming interview with immigration officials.
She had good reason to be worried: Her claim, invented by her lawyer’s associates, was false.
But the lawyer, John Wang, told her to relax. The process, he said, was straightforward, and as long as she memorized a few details, everything would be fine. “You are making yourself nervous,” he said in Mandarin. “All you would be asked is the same few rubbish questions.”
“Just make it up,” the lawyer added.
The conversation, in December 2010, was secretly recorded by federal officials conducting a wide investigation of immigration fraud in New York’s Chinese population. The inquiry has led to the prosecution of at least 30 people — lawyers (including Mr. Wang), paralegals, interpreters and even an employee of a church, who is on trial, accused of coaching asylum applicants in basic tenets of Christianity to prop up their claims of religious persecution. All were charged with helping hundreds of Chinese immigrants apply for asylum using false tales of persecution.
The transcript of the conversation in Mr. Wang’s office, which was disclosed in a recent court filing, offered a rare look at the hidden side of the Chinese asylum industry in New York.
More Chinese immigrants apply for asylum than any other immigrant group in the country, with the Chinese population in New York leading the way: Over the past six years, about half of all applications filed by Chinese immigrants not facing deportation were submitted in New York City.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
hold on.
conversation ... between client and their legal representation... in the offices of the lawyer... we’re recorded unbeknownst to either of them?
and this is legal?? since freakin when
why aren’t people being arrested over this? and I mean the ‘federal officials’
WTH
There are probably similar scams going on with welfare, food stamps and social security. If there's free government money available the scam artists will find a way to get their cut.
All aided and abetted by our elected representatives.
It is completely legal. When a warrant is secured in the midst of a legitimate investigation to uncover illegal activity.
The woman was probably working for the Feds.
It is called the crime/fraud exception to the attorney client privilege.
Meanwhile, if she were Mexican, came here illegally, stole someone’s identity to gain benefits she would be hailed as a hero.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.