An audacious scheme to dupe vulnerable immigrants, as alleged in new court filings in Brooklyn federal court, should serve as a wake-up call for New York\u2019s immigrant communities, the leader of a Queens-based immigrant rights organization said Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The elaborate ruse, which featured sham immigration proceedings, duped an untold number of \u201cvulnerable\u201d immigrants into handing over more than $100,000 to defendants posing as lawyers, judges, and other federal officials, according to prosecutors with the U.S. attorney\u2019s office for the Eastern District of New York.<\/p>\n
The operation, which ran for over two years, recently came to a head, with the unsealing of indictments against five Colombian nationals, according to prosecutors. Three defendants were arrested last week while trying to board a flight to Colombia at Newark Liberty International Airport. A fourth defendant was arrested at a restaurant in New Jersey, while a fifth defendant remains at large, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n
The defendants, who were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering, and aiding and abetting the impersonation of a federal official, included Daniela Alejandra Sanchez Ramirez, Jhoan Sebastian Sanchez Ramirez, Alexandra Patricia Sanchez Ramirez and Marlyn Yulitza Salazar Pineda, all of whom entered pleas of not guilty.<\/p>\n
Hildalyn Colon, the chief operations and strategic officer at New Immigrant Community Empowerment in Jackson Heights, Queens, said the problem of fraud thrives in conditions of fear within immigrant communities and could be combated with more public awareness.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aUsually, immigrants are not going to come forward. They’re afraid to come forward,\u201d Colon said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet’s talk about how we can prevent it.\u201d<\/p>\n