Counselor on Immigration Admits to Scam
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LOS ANGELES — A Tustin immigration counselor pleaded guilty Tuesday to providing false documentation of marriages to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, in a scheme to give illegal aliens a basis to stay in the United States.
Manuel Garcia Jr., 37, who once ran an immigration counseling center in Santa Ana, entered the pleas before U.S. District Judge Terrence J. Hatter Jr.
Garcia faces up to 10 years in prison for filing false documents with the INS, Asst. U.S. Atty. Leslie A. Swain said.
Prosecutors alleged that Garcia arranged sham marriages for two men and one woman who were Mexican nationals in the country illegally. An alien married to a U.S. citizen can legally obtain documentation allowing an indefinite stay in the country.
“It was alleged that he essentially counseled different illegal aliens to marry an American citizen for the purpose of obtaining a green card and that he thereafter filed the documentations,” Swain said.
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