The Justice Department charged 11 people, including six alleged facilitators, in a scheme accused of arranging about 1,000 sham marriages over a decade, mostly pairing Chinese nationals with U.S. citizens to secure legal residency. Foreign nationals reportedly paid up to $100,000 each, while U.S. citizen spouses were paid up to $30,000, according to an indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court.
Participants allegedly helped couples file paperwork with the Department of Homeland Security to convert the arrangements into lawful permanent residency. Attorney General Todd Blanche called it one of the largest marriage fraud prosecutions in U.S. history.
The announcement comes days after President Trump signed an executive order targeting so-called birth tourism, following a Supreme Court ruling upholding broad birthright citizenship rights. The State Department separately said it has begun reviewing visa holders' activities to crack down on women traveling to the U.S. solely to secure citizenship for a child.
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