Couple Charged With Filing 2,601 Fraudulent Requests for Asylum

In one of the largest cases of such immigration fraud, a federal grand jury Friday indicted a San Bernardino couple on suspicion of filing more than 2,600 bogus claims for political asylum.

Authorities charged that the couple--doing business as General Office Services out of sites in El Monte, Azusa and Santa Ana--employed a now-common scheme: Duping applicants, mostly illegal immigrants from Mexico, into thinking they were merely applying for permits to work in the United States.

Instead, authorities said, the suspects charged clients up to $1,150 to file the phony applications for political asylum.

“The immigrants themselves have been duped by these preparers and are victims in this whole scenario,” said Rosemary Melville, who heads the Los Angeles asylum office of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

After obtaining clients’ signatures on the application forms, authorities said, the suspects filled in data about the purported political asylum claims.

Most of the documents featured identical assertions, officials said, contending that applicants were opposition party members in Mexico and had been beaten by Mexican police. All feared for their lives if they returned home, the applications stated.

Many applicants receive work permits as a result of their applications while their cases are being considered. However, work permits in this case were later revoked--and the applicants made subject to deportation--once officials determined that the asylum claims were bogus.

The number of asylum applicants from Mexico has been growing sharply, authorities say, though Mexican nationals seldom qualify for political asylum. Foreigners persecuted in their homelands because of their race, creed, political opinions or membership in social groups may qualify, allowing them to remain and work in the United States.

Charged were Cecilia Parra Sanchez, 45, and her husband, Emilio Parra Garcia, 27. He was arrested earlier this month at his San Bernardino residence but his wife remains a fugitive, authorities said.

Federal agents searching the couple’s home discovered copies of 2,601 fraudulent asylum cases that had been filed with the INS, U.S. Atty. Nora M. Manella said.