Seven employees of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and
twenty-six others have been charged in a bribery scheme in which INS
officials allegedly sold fraudulent immigration documents in exchange for
more than $100,000.

This is the third fraud scheme uncovered in the last few years and is
undoubtedly one of the most serious. INS officials are alleged to actually
have accepted bribes inside the INS' Manhattan office.

Five of the indicted officials are immigration examiners who interview
applicants for green cards. Two other low level officials were charged as
well as several brokers who accepted the money for the bribes from their
clients and offered the bribes to the INS officials. One immigration
lawyer, Francois Au of New York, was charged as well. The investigation
began after co-workers reported suspicious activities including people
being scheduled for interviews at the last second. FBI officials gathered
much of their evidence by using wiretaps.

According to US Attorney Mary Jo White, one immigration examiner is alleged
to have wiped out an applicant's criminal record from the file. Other cases
involved immigration officers agreeing not to closely examine whether
marriages forming the basis of an application were bona fide.

The US Attorney did point out that it is not actually clear that the
immigrants on whose behalf bribes were paid actually knew that bribes were
being paid for them. It has not yet been announced whether any of the
immigrants involved would face deportation.

The accused defendants will face charges of conspiracy, bribery and
immigration fraud.