Sting Nets 4 Accused of Providing Phony Documents to Aliens

Federal immigration investigators arrested four people Wednesday who were allegedly involved in two separate schemes to provide false documentation to unqualified applicants for the farm-worker amnesty program.

Silvia Serrano and Silvina Gil were arrested in connection with a scheme they were reportedly operating through their business, Notary Public S & S on Border Village Road. Mario Olvera and Ana Maria Gonzalez Reyes of Olvera Bookkeeping Income Tax Notary on San Ysidro Boulevard were also arrested, Immigration and Naturalization Service officials announced. Both businesses are in San Ysidro.

The operation involved INS agents posing as undocumented workers who wished to qualify for amnesty, officials said. During the investigation, agents were offered false employment affidavits and check stubs to use as proof of farm labor employment during their legalization interviews, according to INS spokesman Arnoldo Flores. At both businesses, the agents were provided document packages and crash courses in farm techniques, for prices ranging from $650 to $1,500, he said.

“The Olvera operation appears to have offered the higher level of personal service,” Flores said, adding that, in one instance, the undercover officer, after paying his money, was outfitted with false documents, driven to a doctor’s office for a prearranged medical exam, then delivered to the door of the INS legalization center to file his fake application.

To qualify for the Special Agricultural Worker section of the amnesty program, applicants must be able to prove they worked at least 90 days in agriculture during a one-year period after May 1, 1985. Many undocumented workers have no documents to prove their residence in the United States, and, as a result, a huge industry has sprung up along the border in the past few years to assist farm workers seeking amnesty.

In October, INS authorities announced a plan to crack down on “massive fraud” in amnesty applications in San Diego County. At that time, it was believed that about 65% of farm-worker amnesty applicants had submitted fraudulent documents.