U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) enforces an array of laws related to combating criminal organizations and individuals that exploit the United States immigration process.
Document and benefit fraud poses a severe threat to national security and public safety because it creates a vulnerability that may enable terrorists, criminals and illegal aliens to gain entry to and remain in the United States. Document fraud, also known as identity fraud, is the manufacture, sale or use of counterfeit identity documents such as fake driver's licenses, birth certificates, Social Security cards or passports for immigration fraud or other criminal activity. Benefit fraud refers to the misrepresentation or omission of facts on an application to obtain an immigration benefit one is not entitled to, such as U.S. citizenship, political asylum or a valid visa.
To combat this type of fraud, HSI has partnered with federal, state, and local counterparts to create the Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force, a series of multi-agency teams developed to target criminal organizations and beneficiaries behind these fraudulent schemes.
These task forces maximize resources, eliminate the duplication of efforts and produce a strong law enforcement presence. They combine HSI's unique criminal and administrative authorities with a variety of tools and authorities from other law enforcement agencies to achieve focused, high-impact criminal prosecutions and financial seizures.
Currently there are 19 document and benefit fraud task force locations in the United States:
HSI will continue to establish new document and benefit fraud task forces in major metropolitan areas as resources permit. Expanding the coordinated interagency efforts of the document and benefit fraud task forces will prevent future abuses, while ensuring that those who do abuse the system are prosecuted to the fullest extent under the law.
9/11/2012 Miami, FL 4 arrested in immigration fraud scheme
9/7/2012 Greenbelt, MD Former Maryland MVA employee pleads guilty to conspiracy to fraudulently produce and sell Maryland driver's licenses
9/5/2012 Orlando, FL 21 individuals charged in 'Operation Knot So Fast 2012'
8/20/2012 Fresno, CA Fresno man pleads guilty in California driver's license fraud scheme
8/16/2012 Kansas City, MO 2 Guatemalan nationals indicted for conspiring to provide false identity documents to illegal aliens
8/9/2012 Sacramento, CA Shasta County brothers indicted for producing phony immigration documents