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.
9/27/2012 Alexandria, VA Chinese national convicted as part of long-term investigation into immigration fraud ring
9/24/2012 New York, NY Woman who impersonated ICE officer sentenced to 30 months in prison
9/21/2012 New York, NY Woman admits attempting to bribe CBP officer
9/17/2012 Buffalo, NY Florida man sentenced to 34 months for identity theft
9/14/2012 Trenton, NJ Nigerian national admits to using deceased man's identity for work at Newark airport
9/13/2012 St Louis, MO St. Louis landscaping business and owner sentenced for employing illegal aliens and visa fraud