JerryL Posted July 21, 2003 Report Share Posted July 21, 2003 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2003Jul17.html Story reproduced below in case the above link goes away... Witnesses Say Brothers Staged China Romances Md. Men Deny Involvement In Immigration Scheme By Carol D. LeonnigWashington Post Staff WriterFriday, July 18, 2003; Page B01 In photos snapped in southeast China, Steve Lu and You Zhen Chen looked like a couple deeply in love -- hugging as they posed together while sightseeing and at an engagement luncheon with Chen's relatives. But in a federal courtroom in Washington this week, Lu said he had met Zhen for the first time on the day the pictures were taken and had received instructions for his trip to China at a Dunkin Donuts in Rockville. Their feigned romance was one of dozens that David and Michael Cheng cooked up from the kitchens of restaurants they owned in the District, Silver Spring and Chesapeake Beach, Va., according to federal prosecutors. Families in China each agreed to pay the Cheng brothers $20,000 to $60,000 to help them line up phony fiances in the United States so that their young sons and daughters could get visas to enter the country, prosecutors have charged. The soon-to-be-weds never walked down the aisle, but more than two dozen Chinese twenty-somethings used the visas to slip inside America's borders during the 1990s with the Chengs' help, according to the government's case. They quietly joined the ranks of an estimated 7 million illegal immigrants living in the United States. That tide has been largely unstoppable in recent years, and federal law enforcement agencies say curbing it is one of their top priorities after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. If convicted, David Cheng, 37, would face up to 25 years in prison and Michael Cheng, 35, would face up to five years on charges that they fabricated transcontinental love affairs and defrauded U.S. immigration officials for profit. David Cheng is also charged with trying to pay a witness to lie for him. The Cheng brothers argue through their attorneys that they developed an expertise in immigration rules and were simply helping friends sort through the paperwork. The Chengs say they cannot be held criminally responsible for love that withered or fiances who got cold feet. In the trial in U.S. District Court, more than 20 witnesses have come forward to describe their supporting roles in what they described as a scam to smuggle pretend brides and grooms into the United States. Among those who have taken the stand are several Chinese-born U.S. citizens, many of them University of Maryland students, who said they were recruited and paid to stage blossoming romances with young Chinese women they had never met. "They said I could easily make some quick cash," said Chun-Ping Cheng, now 29 and a financial analyst in Rockville. "All I had to do was go to China, take some pictures with a girl, and sign some documents." The steps for documenting a fake romance were similar, the men testified, with several of them getting their instructions over coffee at the Dunkin Donuts on Rockville Pike. Jimmy Sun testified that he worked for David Cheng and told the young men they could make $8,000 each. First, they had to sign an immigration paper saying they intended to sponsor a young Chinese woman, bring her to the United States and marry her within 90 days as the visa rule required, the witnesses testified. They said they were then given plane tickets to travel from Reagan National Airport to China's Fujian Province. On the day of their departure, David Cheng drove them to the airport in his Camry, the witnesses said, and handed each of them two items: an envelope containing information about the family they would contact in Fujian and a camera for taking pictures with their "fiancees." Once in China, another Cheng associate took them to the women's homes and took pictures of each couple in hugging poses. Back in the United States a few days later, the men said, they were told to write love letters to the women, to call them once or twice and to provide the Chengs with a copy of their phone bill for the calls. "None of us knew the girls," Chung-Ping Chen said of his travels to Fujian with two other Washington area men. "We were just told to act happy for the pictures." Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan of U.S. District Court has presided over the trial, now entering its eighth day of witness testimony. One of the trial's most dramatic moments came when Chen described in her Mandarin dialect how her parents summoned her from school to return to their village and told her to "act like boyfriend and girlfriend" for a photo shoot with Lu. Chen, who was 22 at the time and is now 27, said her parents had arranged to pay a man named David in the United States $40,000 to fake her engagement so she could get into the United States. "That was the dream of my life, to come to America," Chen said through an interpreter. "This is a free country. I could improve the livelihood of my family. " Federal agents began their investigation after David Cheng was arrested in the District's Chinatown in March 1997 on an unrelated charge and police found Cheng's Toyota Camry filled with petitions for visas and identification documents for several people in China. A later search turned up more petition files in Michael Cheng's home in Lanham, authorities said. David Cheng's attorney, James W. Rudasill, told the jury that the government cannot prove the Cheng brothers' money came from Chinese families paying for such visa help. He said the brothers worked hard and long hours in five restaurants throughout the 1990s to earn their money. "They say they've got David's fingerprints on the documents," Rudasill said. "That's because he still had the soybean oil on his hands when people came to his kitchen asking for his help with their papers." Rudasill and Doug Wood, attorney for Michael Cheng, said government witnesses have agreed to plead to lesser charges for their alleged roles in lying about the visas and therefore cannot be trusted. Link to comment
Guest R2D2 Posted July 21, 2003 Report Share Posted July 21, 2003 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2003Jul17.html Story reproduced below in case the above link goes away... Witnesses Say Brothers Staged China Romances Md. Men Deny Involvement In Immigration Scheme By Carol D. LeonnigWashington Post Staff WriterFriday, July 18, 2003; Page B01 In photos snapped in southeast China, Steve Lu and You Zhen Chen looked like a couple deeply in love -- hugging as they posed together while sightseeing and at an engagement luncheon with Chen's relatives. But in a federal courtroom in Washington this week, Lu said he had met Zhen for the first time on the day the pictures were taken and had received instructions for his trip to China at a Dunkin Donuts in Rockville. Their feigned romance was one of dozens that David and Michael Cheng cooked up from the kitchens of restaurants they owned in the District, Silver Spring and Chesapeake Beach, Va., according to federal prosecutors. Families in China each agreed to pay the Cheng brothers $20,000 to $60,000 to help them line up phony fiances in the United States so that their young sons and daughters could get visas to enter the country, prosecutors have charged. The soon-to-be-weds never walked down the aisle, but more than two dozen Chinese twenty-somethings used the visas to slip inside America's borders during the 1990s with the Chengs' help, according to the government's case. They quietly joined the ranks of an estimated 7 million illegal immigrants living in the United States. That tide has been largely unstoppable in recent years, and federal law enforcement agencies say curbing it is one of their top priorities after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. If convicted, David Cheng, 37, would face up to 25 years in prison and Michael Cheng, 35, would face up to five years on charges that they fabricated transcontinental love affairs and defrauded U.S. immigration officials for profit. David Cheng is also charged with trying to pay a witness to lie for him. The Cheng brothers argue through their attorneys that they developed an expertise in immigration rules and were simply helping friends sort through the paperwork. The Chengs say they cannot be held criminally responsible for love that withered or fiances who got cold feet. In the trial in U.S. District Court, more than 20 witnesses have come forward to describe their supporting roles in what they described as a scam to smuggle pretend brides and grooms into the United States. Among those who have taken the stand are several Chinese-born U.S. citizens, many of them University of Maryland students, who said they were recruited and paid to stage blossoming romances with young Chinese women they had never met. "They said I could easily make some quick cash," said Chun-Ping Cheng, now 29 and a financial analyst in Rockville. "All I had to do was go to China, take some pictures with a girl, and sign some documents." The steps for documenting a fake romance were similar, the men testified, with several of them getting their instructions over coffee at the Dunkin Donuts on Rockville Pike. Jimmy Sun testified that he worked for David Cheng and told the young men they could make $8,000 each. First, they had to sign an immigration paper saying they intended to sponsor a young Chinese woman, bring her to the United States and marry her within 90 days as the visa rule required, the witnesses testified. They said they were then given plane tickets to travel from Reagan National Airport to China's Fujian Province. On the day of their departure, David Cheng drove them to the airport in his Camry, the witnesses said, and handed each of them two items: an envelope containing information about the family they would contact in Fujian and a camera for taking pictures with their "fiancees." Once in China, another Cheng associate took them to the women's homes and took pictures of each couple in hugging poses. Back in the United States a few days later, the men said, they were told to write love letters to the women, to call them once or twice and to provide the Chengs with a copy of their phone bill for the calls. "None of us knew the girls," Chung-Ping Chen said of his travels to Fujian with two other Washington area men. "We were just told to act happy for the pictures." Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan of U.S. District Court has presided over the trial, now entering its eighth day of witness testimony. One of the trial's most dramatic moments came when Chen described in her Mandarin dialect how her parents summoned her from school to return to their village and told her to "act like boyfriend and girlfriend" for a photo shoot with Lu. Chen, who was 22 at the time and is now 27, said her parents had arranged to pay a man named David in the United States $40,000 to fake her engagement so she could get into the United States. "That was the dream of my life, to come to America," Chen said through an interpreter. "This is a free country. I could improve the livelihood of my family. " Federal agents began their investigation after David Cheng was arrested in the District's Chinatown in March 1997 on an unrelated charge and police found Cheng's Toyota Camry filled with petitions for visas and identification documents for several people in China. A later search turned up more petition files in Michael Cheng's home in Lanham, authorities said. David Cheng's attorney, James W. Rudasill, told the jury that the government cannot prove the Cheng brothers' money came from Chinese families paying for such visa help. He said the brothers worked hard and long hours in five restaurants throughout the 1990s to earn their money. "They say they've got David's fingerprints on the documents," Rudasill said. "That's because he still had the soybean oil on his hands when people came to his kitchen asking for his help with their papers." Rudasill and Doug Wood, attorney for Michael Cheng, said government witnesses have agreed to plead to lesser charges for their alleged roles in lying about the visas and therefore cannot be trusted.I just replied to Carol, the staff writer in DC.... Carol, I read, with interest, your story about using the INS (BCIS) as a tool for smuggling illegal immigrants. However, these are but a few that come here illegally in this manner. I would have hoped that the story would have been more balanced. Many wait for spouses, children, and loved ones, but the focus is on those that abuse the system instead. The bigger story is the abuse of the system toward families in China. However, in this climate, the stories play better to the anti-immigrationists. This is especially true with so many out of work and companies still laying off. It is easy to place the blame for a bad economy on immigrants, as they do not have a voice. The one with the voice is big business, that has exported jobs for low wages to India and China. With your last name, you are but a generation or two immigrant yourself. A mob, stirred up and kept stirred up, has no common sense and just follows, even to their death. 9/11 has been a tool used for this end far to long and I was sad to see that you have been used as a tool to this end. I enjoy your writing and you certainly have an excellent prose. Thank you for taking the time to read my hen scratch. Link to comment
Mick Posted July 21, 2003 Report Share Posted July 21, 2003 Too bad they chose to do a story on this rather than on the endless delays, the bureaucratic foul-ups, and the endless pain and suffering many of us have had to endure. Link to comment
whoever Posted July 21, 2003 Report Share Posted July 21, 2003 Most people do not believe there is a conspiracy about stopping immigrants from China.I choose to belive there is a conspiracy. Link to comment
JerryL Posted July 21, 2003 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2003 Most people do not believe there is a conspiracy about stopping immigrants from China.I choose to belive there is a conspiracy.Do you mean you believe there is a conspiracy to stop immigrants, or just immigrants from China? If the latter, how come? Jerry Link to comment
tparrent Posted July 21, 2003 Report Share Posted July 21, 2003 If there is a conspiracy, it's a miserable failure. Check out the numbers in donahso's post from last week. Furthermore, I am going to help crack that conspiracy in LESS THAN TWO WEEKS :D:D:D:D when I bring my honey home. I hope you will do the same with your's sometime soon. Good luck and fast processing to all. Link to comment
Argyle Posted July 22, 2003 Report Share Posted July 22, 2003 I just replied to Carol, the staff writer in DC.... Carol, I read, with interest, your story about using the INS (BCIS) as a tool for smuggling illegal immigrants. However, these are but a few that come here illegally in this manner. I would have hoped that the story would have been more balanced. Many wait for spouses, children, and loved ones, but the focus is on those that abuse the system instead. The bigger story is the abuse of the system toward families in China. However, in this climate, the stories play better to the anti-immigrationists. ..Well done R2D2! Would you share your contact information? I would like to reply to Carol as well. You can email it to me if you feel it is appropriate. Thanks Link to comment
tonado Posted July 22, 2003 Report Share Posted July 22, 2003 I always hear about people in Boston Chinatown about making quick money by doing fake marriage (or fiancee). However, I don't know how much is true. Since some Chinese really think that America is full of gold, some will do anything to come. Link to comment
tonyuab Posted July 22, 2003 Report Share Posted July 22, 2003 people like those made our visa process slow... when my wife went to interview, she met one girl from wuhan(same city with my wife). she even told my wife, she's marrying the guy for visa only...and she even passed the interview... Link to comment
wolf Posted July 22, 2003 Report Share Posted July 22, 2003 This is just a really bad time for this story to be in the Washington eyes. It is very true that there are many of these marriages arranged by fake money maker, but it hurts all of us that still have to deal with the interview part. Even when I was in China on my last visit to see my fiancee, I went out for a run one morning and some couple offered me $ 20,000 to marry their daughter. Somehow we have to get this image out of the public eye and the consulate eyes. You know this story will get to the consulate after the trial is over and than we all will have a harder time to prove a real relationship. All the photos we have don't help with this kind of story.Good luck to everyone now. Link to comment
Guest R2D2 Posted July 22, 2003 Report Share Posted July 22, 2003 I just replied to Carol, the staff writer in DC.... Carol, I read, with interest, your story about using the INS (BCIS) as a tool for smuggling illegal immigrants. However, these are but a few that come here illegally in this manner. I would have hoped that the story would have been more balanced. Many wait for spouses, children, and loved ones, but the focus is on those that abuse the system instead. The bigger story is the abuse of the system toward families in China. However, in this climate, the stories play better to the anti-immigrationists. ..Well done R2D2! Would you share your contact information? I would like to reply to Carol as well. You can email it to me if you feel it is appropriate. ThanksI clicked on the story and went to the home page and searched the paper for reporter's e-mail addresses. I clicked on hers and sent the reply that you see to her story. Link to comment
JerryL Posted July 22, 2003 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2003 Even when I was in China on my last visit to see my fiancee, I went out for a run one morning and some couple offered me $ 20,000 to marry their daughter. Next time this happens, you can tell them that the going rate is $40,000. According to the news story, these dudes collected $40k but only paid the guys doing the actual legwork $8k. Talk about exploiting the workers. Make a few phone calls, fill in a few forms, pull in $32k... Jerry Link to comment
Guest R2D2 Posted July 22, 2003 Report Share Posted July 22, 2003 I just replied to Carol, the staff writer in DC.... Carol, I read, with interest, your story about using the INS (BCIS) as a tool for smuggling illegal immigrants. However, these are but a few that come here illegally in this manner. I would have hoped that the story would have been more balanced. Many wait for spouses, children, and loved ones, but the focus is on those that abuse the system instead. The bigger story is the abuse of the system toward families in China. However, in this climate, the stories play better to the anti-immigrationists. ..Well done R2D2! Would you share your contact information? I would like to reply to Carol as well. You can email it to me if you feel it is appropriate. ThanksLeonnigc@washpost.com This is the e-amil address for the writer of that now infamous article. Seems there is a lot less attention paid to the Mesican border runners that bring over thousands per month, including many from Arab countries and China. Link to comment
Mick Posted July 22, 2003 Report Share Posted July 22, 2003 Nice new avatar R2! Whatever happened to the French swabby? Link to comment
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