INS Supervisor Found Guilty in Perjury Case

An Immigration and Naturalization Service supervisor was convicted of perjury Wednesday in what prosecutors said was a foiled attempt to protect two corrupt colleagues.

Alvaro A. Bracamonte of Huntington Beach was suspended after the charges were filed and now faces firing, according to Assistant U.S. Atty. Maurice A. Leiter.

He is thought to be the first INS special agent to be convicted of a crime relating to his official duties.

A federal jury deliberated just 35 minutes before voting to convict. Bracamonte faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine at sentencing next month.

The trial was in the Los Angeles courtroom of U.S. District Judge Laughlin E. Waters.

“The government will not tolerate false testimony designed to obstruct a jury’s evaluation of the evidence, particularly when that false testimony comes from a law enforcement official,” Leiter said.

Bracamonte, 56, remains free on bail. He could not be reached for comment.

He was convicted of testifying falsely in defense of a former co-worker and his wife, an INS examiner, at their trial on charges of accepting bribes for falsifying application forms used in granting permanent resident status.

Both Robert Anaya and his wife, Dorothy, were convicted in 1986 and sentenced to four years in prison.

Bracamonte had testified that he loaned the Anayas $160,000. If believed, the testimony would have undercut the government’s allegation that the Anayas received the money through bribery.

The Anayas accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from 36 Taiwanese seeking to become permanent residents. Jurors convicted the Anayas of receiving up to $40,000 per application. The aliens posed as Buddhist monks and nuns in a bid to use a federal law benefiting foreign clergy.

As a supervising special agent in the Los Angeles office, Bracamonte directed investigations into immigration fraud, such as sham marriages and the submission of false documents.