Immigrants say brokers duped them, blame INS

[tonado]

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/4928307.htm

 

 

Immigrants say brokers duped them, blame INS

SEVERAL RECOUNT TALE OF BETRAYAL

By Jessie Mangaliman

Mercury News

 

H.D. Kim remembers the moment he realized his life in his adopted country was about to crumble. Returning from South Korea last year, Kim was shocked when immigration officials at San Francisco International Airport confiscated his green card, told him it was fake and said he could be forced to leave the country.

 

Kim and 274 other immigrants applied for green cards -- the official document that is the first step toward citizenship -- years ago with the help of immigration consultants they met at a church in Cupertino.

 

But rather than qualify for citizenship today, many are facing deportation as they learn that they were part of a green-card scheme that involved a veteran Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) supervisor who accepted at least $500,000 in bribes from the consultants.

 

In interviews with the Mercury News, several immigrants recounted how they came to the United States legally, with dreams of building lives and businesses. Many are now Bay Area professionals -- including architects, doctors and high-tech engineers -- who insist the only mistake they made was to trust consultants they believed would help them achieve the American Dream.

 

Their stories highlight a growing problem: unscrupulous immigration brokers who exploit the complicated green-card process in order to prey on unsuspecting immigrants. They also underscore the vulnerability of the INS and the system that supervisor Leland Dwayne Sustaire fooled for more than a decade.

 

Sustaire, 54, of Valley Springs, avoided jail time by testifying in 1999 against the consultants who bribed him. The four brokers, all from the Bay Area, are out of prison after serving anywhere from four months to three years behind bars.

 

But the penalty phase is just beginning for the immigrants, as the government tracks them down to launch deportation proceedings in immigration court in San Francisco.

 

Like Kim, Santa Clara attorney Alex C. Park bristles at the suggestion that the crime Sustaire and the consultants committed was victimless.

 

``The INS would like to characterize this as a fraud with the victims as willing participants, and that could not be more wrong,'' said Park, who represents Kim, as well as 94 other green-card recipients. ``To the victims, these were nothing but legitimate.''

 

Most of the immigrants could be in the process of becoming citizens by now if they had worked with legitimate immigration consultants.

 

Whose fraud?

• Immigrants insist they were unaware

 

``How is it that the INS, who's at fault, can call us and tell us we committed fraud?'' said Kim, who came legally to the United States in 1987 on a temporary work visa. ``Isn't it the other way around? The INS committed fraud on us.''

 

Government prosecutors and at least one of the convicted consultants have said that the immigrants were unaware of the scam.

 

But the INS contends that Kim and the other immigrants knew what they were getting into and were willing participants.

 

The INS, Sustaire and the four brokers declined to comment about the case.

 

Kim, an electronic assembly worker in Silicon Valley, regrets the day he joined Young Kwang Presbyterian Church, a now-defunct Korean church in Cupertino.

 

It was at the church, on Bollinger Road in Cupertino, where Kim and many of the other immigrants first learned about the immigration consulting services provided by John Choe, his wife, Cherie, and his sister-in-law, Song Ja Byun, a deacon at the church.

 

Kim said he placed complete trust in the Choes and Byun because of their church affiliation.

 

``Mrs. Byun seemed to be a good Christian,'' he said. ``That's why I trusted her.''

 

Byun and the Choes were known in Silicon Valley's tightly knit Korean-American community for successfully obtaining legitimate green cards for immigrants.

 

``I didn't know many people here. I was new and everything I did -- where to rent an apartment, buy a car, shop for groceries -- I consulted other people, other church people,'' said another immigrant, who asked to be identified only by his initials, H.K.

 

Like Kim, H.K. came to the United States more than 10 years ago on an H-1B visa. He paid Byun $12,000 to help him apply for a green card. He now owns a medical-instrument exporting business in San Jose. He and other immigrants say they are only now discovering the details of the scheme hatched in 1986 between Byun, the Choes and Sustaire.

 

The brokers, who knew the immigration status of many of the church's members, found the customers. They helped them fill out complicated INS forms and submitted them to Sustaire.

 

After bribing him with about half of what they charged the immigrants -- which ranged from $6,000 to $15,000 -- Sustaire then used his authority at the INS to request the green cards.

 

Daniel Lee, 43, a paralegal from Sunnyvale who ran an immigration consulting firm, learned of Sustaire's connections and began working with him using a similar scheme. Lee found many of his customers by advertising in local Korean newspapers.

 

S. Hanh, 45, and his wife, Soon Hanh, 42, were living in Pleasanton when they first came across one of Lee's advertisements in 1993.

 

They had arrived legally in the United States in 1986, after being married in Fusan, South Korea. He was a student. She was a concert violinist. Both dreamed of building a new life in America. Their plan seemed simple: finish school, start a business, apply for green cards, and become U.S. citizens.

 

They paid Lee $35,000 to shepherd them through the green-card process in 1995. A year later, they received their green cards.

 

But their dream of early retirement was recently thrown into doubt. Although they have not received deportation notices, they worry they may be next.

 

``We're waiting for what's going to happen to our lives,'' said S. Hanh, 45, who has since moved to Vacaville, where he and his wife own a dry-cleaning business.

 

``Our plan was to work hard, save, retire and then travel,'' said Soon Hanh. ``But everything is upside down.''

 

Park and the immigrants say part of what made the scam appear legitimate was that they were asked to visit the San Jose INS office for interviews. But those interviews were a charade to ward off doubtful immigrants, Sustaire testified in court.

 

Dreams on hold

• Revelations put lives in limbo

 

The consultants paid Sustaire in installments, bills stuffed in unmarked envelopes. They met at nearby burger joints and once inside the INS office in San Jose, according to court documents.

 

For their crimes, Sustaire and others received probation or minimum jail time. But for the immigrants, many are preparing to abandon the lives they built here, in some instances leaving family members behind. Some have put businesses and career plans on hold.

 

Among them is a 24-year-old who graduated last year from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in mechanical engineering.

 

He, his parents and sister came to San Jose in 1992 on tourist visas. He was a high school student when his father applied for a green card with Lee's help.

 

``This has nothing to do with what I did because I did nothing wrong,'' said Jung, who asked to be identified only by his first name.

 

He learned about the trouble with his green card last year while waiting for a citizenship interview in New Jersey, where he now lives with his family.

 

``I had taken the citizenship test -- I passed -- and the INS lady congratulated me,'' Jung said. ``I was waiting, and then she came back and told me there were problems with my green card and told me to go home.''

 

The INS confiscated his green card, as they have done to several other immigrants.

 

``I have job opportunities, but I can't take them,'' Jung said. ``What if they decide to send me on a business trip abroad? What do I do then?''

 

`Still suffering'

• Loss of green card a blow to business

 

Another immigrant, who asked to be identified by his initials, J.H., said he paid Lee $45,000, in installments, to help him, his wife and his two children obtain green cards. The 51-year-old owner of a construction company came to the United States in 1991 with an H-1B visa.

 

Asked whether he felt betrayed, J.H. paused, then broke down into tears.

 

``I'm still suffering, but Daniel Lee and Leland Sustaire are free and done. Where is the justice in that?'' he said. ``I am not illegal. I did not commit fraud.''

 

Since he learned of his immigration status, J.H. has been unable to travel abroad to conduct business. His son, a graduate of Northwestern University, has canceled plans to attend graduate school on a scholarship.

 

``We don't know when we're going to be called to court and be asked to pack our bags and told, `You have to leave the United States,' '' J.H. said. ``I've thought about the scenario of being deported, and I don't see a clear conclusion because to go is not an option for us.''

 

It's still unknown whether all 275 immigrants will be deported. The INS refuses to disclose how many have been contacted about the fraud. According to attorneys, one immigrant was deported last year and is living in South Korea, unable to return to the United States. Two others recently went to trial and are awaiting rulings. At least 15 others have received deportation notices.

 

Since the Sustaire case surfaced, the INS has made changes in how it issues green cards, said Sharon Rummery, an INS representative.

 

Where an adjudication supervisor like Sustaire once had the final word, now entire files are sent for review by a supervisor at another INS office. No longer can one rogue supervisor secure an immigrant's green card.

 

``I don't tie in the two together,'' Rummery said. ``But it's something we've instituted since.''

 

 

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Contact Jessie Mangaliman at jmangaliman@sjmercury.com or (408)-920-5794.

[Joseph-1]

Im afraid that many of us have pissed off the wrong rogue. Sometimes I just want to keep my mouth shut. As Americans we are used to speaking out,but is it wise. Money is what makes the world go round,they say. This kind of thing really scares me. I know what it takes to leave for good. I have family and a life here. It would be a shame to give it up. I was born an American, do I have to die Chinese?

[Myles]

Aloha from Hawaii.

Just curious. How may of us out there have paid Immigration Lawyers and are

stuck in this mess. There are legal as well as illegal scams in the immigration

business.

Myles aka Annakuen'GG

[Guest David]

Here's a link to a series of news stories about a WHOLE LOT of evil sh!t that the INS has done. (in fairness, the INS has supposedly been cleaned up since this was written... pshea, right!) The people who wrote this series won a PULITZER prize in journalism... and to think most people don't even know the first thing about the INS or what it does.

 

 

www.oregonlive.com/ins

[Eric&Yuhui]

Aloha from Hawaii.

Just curious.  How may of us out there have paid Immigration Lawyers and are

stuck in this mess.  There are legal as well as illegal scams in the immigration

business.

Myles aka Annakuen'GG

In this process, lawyers are just skilled paperwork fillers. Nothing more. they will not advance a case. Do your homework, save 2 Grands, and be in the same mess a lawyer-based app would be

IMHO

[Kaige]

INS and DOS better get there s---- together first as they are doing a very poor job, before deporting people, INS never caught this problem in the first place till years down the road, I say he stays, at least he is a good businessman working for his family , more than what I can say for our govts. actions, they can't even bring us all together as a family

[Eric&Yuhui]

clip///

I was born an American, do I have to die Chinese?

No you don't..

Hopefully not...

Wanna buy a french passport ??

Juuust kidding Joseph... I might need it !

[chinadave2001]

I was really considering using one of these lawyers until the good folks at this site advised me to save my money. Thanks. Although to be honest, if I thought that it would have worked, I'd have done it in a minute.

[Eric&Yuhui]

I was really considering using one of these lawyers until the good folks at this site advised me to save my money. Thanks. Although to be honest, if I thought that it would have worked, I'd have done it in a minute.

Did you contribute a small part of that saving to the BHGF ?? ( BlackHoleGangFund )

[chinadave2001]

Yes, of course, the check is in the mail.

[Guest David]

I was born an American, do I have to die Chinese?

I hope you put this line in at least one letter.