Migrant Marriage-Fraud Ring Busted in Massachusetts

People have numerous ways they try to cheat the system to enter the US illegally and also to stay here. And then there are some who take advantage of migrants to make a healthy profit for themselves. Both happened to be the case in Massachusetts after investigators discovered a migrant marriage-fraud scheme that spanned a decade and earned the fraudsters millions of dollars.

Migrant Marriage Fraud

The US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts published a press release on Oct. 21, stating:

“Six individuals in Massachusetts have been charged with allegedly arranging sham marriages to fraudulently obtain immigration status for illegal aliens. The organization’s leader has allegedly been orchestrating sham marriages for illegal aliens to enable them to fraudulently obtain immigration status for over 10 years and has made millions of dollars doing so.”

Jennifer Gonzalez, 43, was allegedly the ringleader, who ran a business in which illegal migrants paid her to arrange fake marriages for them. She reportedly accomplished this by enlisting her co-conspirators to enter one or more sham marriages with her illegal alien customers so that they could submit fraudulent documents to gain legal status.

According to the press release, Gonzalez’s operation allegedly averaged around 18 to 20 illegal marriages per year, charging up to $40,000 per fake marriage. She reportedly stated during the investigation that she used the proceeds to buy businesses and real estate in the Dominican Republic, which she called “her country.”

She not only offered weddings for illegals but also allegedly told her customers how to make it appear that their marriages were legitimate, including setting up life insurance policies and joint bank accounts and taking selfies with their “spouses.”

The press release added:

“According to court documents, multiple defendants lied on Massachusetts SNAP benefit applications by falsely claiming to have never been married, even while filing federal immigration petitions on behalf of their sham spouses. Gonzalez allegedly spent over $120,000 that she received in SNAP benefits while she was running the sham marriage ring and buying property in the Dominican Republic.”

Across the Nation

This isn't the first time such an operation has been uncovered, either. In an earlier release back in August, the Department of Justice announced the arrest of 11 people for conspiring, for over a decade, to orchestrate more than 1,000 sham marriages for noncitizens to gain legal status in the US. The foreign nationals were primarily from the People’s Republic of China, and some individuals paid up to $100,000 to get the fake marriages, according to the indictment.

“This Department of Justice is rooting out fraud everywhere — including in our immigration system,” said Attorney General Todd Blanche. “The individuals who were arrested today allegedly orchestrated elaborate schemes to illegally obtain citizenship for foreign nationals through sham marriages. Schemes like this are a deliberate affront to the United States and our laws and will not be tolerated under the Trump Administration.”

US Attorney Jamie McDonald for the Southern District of New York said:

“The defendants and their co-conspirators allegedly operated a nationwide and international, multimillion-dollar marriage fraud scheme, using participants to abuse United States immigration laws for their own profit. Today’s arrests have dismantled a central component of one of the largest marriage fraud schemes charged in United States history.”

In 2021, Joshua Shonubi, 59, a Maryland pastor at New Life City Church, was indicted for recruiting church members who were US citizens to marry foreign nationals and get paid for it. “The Defendant used his role as a pastor to recruit and groom economically disadvantaged United States citizens to marry these foreign nationals and then sponsored them for permanent residence in the United States,” the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland explained in a press release. Shonubi was also charged with creating false documents and submitting them to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services so the fraudulent marriages would be accepted. He facilitated more than 60 fraudulent marriages and submitted over 100 fraudulent documents, including fake leases and pay stubs.

Four California-based individuals were sentenced in 2024 for operating a large-scale marriage-fraud agency that arranged sham marriages for more than 600 foreign nationals. They went even further, submitting applications for restraining orders “against spouses based on fabricated domestic violence allegations,” the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said in a press release. “Benitez’s agency would then submit the restraining order documentation along with immigration petitions to USCIS, in order to take advantage of VAWA provisions that permit non-citizen victims of spousal abuse to apply for lawful permanent resident status without their spouses’ involvement.”

Many other marriage-fraud cases have been prosecuted, too many to cover here. Should Gonzalez and her cohorts in Massachusetts be found guilty, they could face a sentence of up to ten years in prison for harboring illegal aliens and conspiracy to do the same, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. Her alleged partners could be looking at up to five years in prison for marriage fraud and conspiracy to do the same, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.