DHS Highlights Asylum Fraud Prosecutions, Including Florida Smuggling and Asylum Fraud Ring Sentencings
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a statement on November 10 highlighting cases from the past year in which U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) assisted federal prosecutions against asylum fraud, noting that asylum fraud can be prosecuted as a felony. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said USCIS personnel work every day to go after asylum fraudsters and ensure they face justice.
In May, DHS issued a directive instructing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to take additional steps against fraudulent asylum claims, including anti-fraud policies that further enforce the document-fraud penalties law. As a result, ICE attorneys have greater authority, including enforcement actions against immigration attorneys who file false asylum claims in immigration court.
Among the cases listed, on October 29, 2026, five Cuban aliens and one U.S. citizen were sentenced in Florida for their roles in an international conspiracy involving alien smuggling, asylum fraud, and money laundering that brought thousands of aliens illegally into the United States. According to court documents, the defendants operated a sham immigration business, Asesoria Y Servicios Migratorios LLC, which promised asylum filings, work permits, and green card applications, churned out boilerplate asylum claims without clients' knowledge or consent, and blocked clients from accessing their own USCIS online accounts.
Other cases include Chicago-area businessman Jose Gregorio Sosa Cardona, sentenced in May 2026 to nine years in prison after his firm, Delta Global Solutions, provided false information to USCIS for asylum, visa, and green card clients from 2020 to 2024 and fabricated foreign law enforcement reports and political party letters. Afghan national Nazira Haji Zada was removed from the United States in September 2026 after conceding she is an alien terrorist in the first case before the U.S. Alien Terrorist Removal Court; her son and son-in-law were previously arrested and convicted over a plot to commit an ISIS-inspired mass shooting on Election Day 2024, and Zada is now permanently inadmissible.
DHS said USCIS remains committed to detecting and deterring immigration benefit fraud and asked the public to report suspected fraud through the USCIS Tip Form.
(Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security)
Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于华盛顿的美国移民与海关执法局（ICE）总部大楼正面。G. Edward Johnson 摄，CC BY 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Headquarters of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Washington, D.C. Photo by G. Edward Johnson, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
