Conviction in Identity Theft and Immigration Fraud Case

On May 31, 2018, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released a news alert about a conviction involving immigration fraud and identity theft [PDF version].

Franklin J. Flores, 42 years of age, was sentenced to two concurrent terms of 24 months' imprisonment in Federal court after pleading guilty to “one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and one count of falsely attesting U.S. Citizenship on a Form I-130 Petition for Alien Relative and submitting that form to the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services with the intent to obtain benefit for another person.”

The investigation was triggered when a man in New Mexico reported that Flores had stolen his identity. The news alert explains that Flores assumed the identity of the New Mexico man, a U.S. citizen, in order to file a Form I-130 on behalf of his wife under the pretense that she was the immediate relative spouse of a U.S. citizen. During sentencing, U.S. District Judge Janet T. Neff stated that Flores' actions were some of the most egregious she had seen on the bench.

Flories' identity theft and immigration fraud were serious crimes and, as Judge Neff noted, particularly egregious. Beyond his immigration fraud, Flores' identity theft caused great harm to an unrelated individual. The case provides another example that immigration fraud can lead to severe criminal consequences in certain cases.