JAIL: Fake Immigration Attorney ARRESTED After Allegedly Filing Hundreds of Bogus Asylum Claims
Richard Moorhead
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An man who posed as an immigration attorney in Florida allegedly filed more than 200 fake asylum applications with the federal government.
Elvis Harold Reyes is being charged with mail fraud, making false statements in immigration documents, and aggravated identity theft. The charges were announced Wednesday in a press release from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Reyes, a resident of Brandon, Florida, allegedly sought out illegals who were seeking driver’s licenses and work authorization. He advertised himself as an immigration attorney, a pastor, and a former federal law enforcement officer, according to authorities. He operated a company that was advertised as EHR Ministries Inc.
Reyes is being charged for applications filed with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services that made false claims in order to secure immigration benefits for illegals. He allegedly manufactured claims of persecution and imminent fear of returning to home counties on behalf of his clients.
Reyes apparently didn’t coordinate the sham applications with the applicants themselves, failing to tell them that filing bogus immigration applications is a federal crime.
It appears the man’s goal was to convince the illegals hiring him to retain his services. It’s unclear at this time if any of the fraudulent immigration or asylum applications he allegedly filed were approved by USCIS or other federal immigration agencies.
Reyes could face up to decades in prison for his pervasive defrauding of the US immigration system, with maximum penalties of 15 years for the immigration fraud charges and 20 years on the wire fraud charges.
American asylum laws are regularly abused and utilized as a legal means to illegally enter the country by migrants with dubious claims of persecution. The Supreme Court approved President Donald Trump’s game-changing ‘Stay in Mexico’ policy on Wednesday, forcing migrants to remain in Mexico while their asylum claims run their courses through the court system.
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