4/24/2007

ICE news release indicates that the agency arrested 33 individuals largely for religious worker visa fraud. The arrests were made in the eights states including Boston, New York, Hartford, Atlanta, St. Paul, Newark, Philadelphia, Harrisonburg/VA, and Washington, D.C. The arrests are made as result of its multi-year investigation of the religious worker fraud which indicated that 32% of the investigated cases turned out to be fraudulent.

The report indicates that earlier this month, Dong Wan Park, 53, the former pastor of a church in Washington state, appeared in federal court in Tacoma after being deported to the United States to be sentenced for orchestrating a large-scale religious worker visa fraud involving South Korean nationals.

The pastor, a South Korean national, had filed fraudulent applications for South Koreans he claimed were coming to the U.S. to serve as associate pastors at the Hope Korean Church, where he served as pastor. None of the visa applicants was ever employed at the church or had any religious training.

ICE intends to pursue not only removal of these aliens but in some cases criminal prosecution.