According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), marriage fraud accounts for approximately 37% of illegal immigration.  Spouses of both U.S. Citizens and U.S. Permanent Residents are eligible, through slightly different processes with varying time frames, to become  U.S. Permanent Residents and eventual citizens. 

On October 6, 2009,  Sgt. Wesly Farris and Stephen Schneider pleaded guilty to marriage fraud in federal court in Greenville, North Carolina.  The two men, while soldiers at Fort Bragg military base in Fayetteville, North Carolina, married Russian women in 2005 and 2006, respectively, after meeting them through brothers Alexander “Sasha” Manin and Pavel “Pasha” Manin. 

The marriages took place in civil ceremonies on the same day that the men met the women.  After which, the women returned to New York while the men filed both the immigration paperwork necessary for the women to remain in the U.S. and the paperwork with the army to secure higher living allowances and off-post housing. 

Svetlana Kaloshina, wife of Farris, pleaded guilty in August to making a false statement on an immigration application and is out on bond awaiting sentencing. Tatyana Urazova, wife of Schneider, pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy to commit marriage fraud. She remains in jail and will likely be removed (deported) after sentencing.

A third woman charged in the case, Anya Ivanova, was in a fraudulent marriage with a third Fort Bragg soldier, Jason Hawk, who was convicted at court-martial in February.  Jason Hawk was demoted from sergeant to private, paid a fine of $20,000 and served a fourth month sentence on post.  He was then discharged. Ms. Ivanova is currently a fugitive, and authorities believe she is in Canada.

Will further mechanisms to prevent marriage fraud be a big part of the inevitable immigration reform?

Tags: Army, Department of Homeland Security, DHS, Fort Bragg, marriage fraud, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, USCIS

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 8th, 2009 at 12:32 pm and is filed under fraud, immigration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.